Prophecies of Old
by heroesofolympus12
Summary: Rukia lived a somewhat normal life as a noble with a distant mother abusive father, and a ever present grandmother. When Ichigo comes and asks for her hand, what can she say but yes? She might have said no if she knew what would come of the proposal: Time travel, Hell, and the Seven Deadly Sins. What might happened when her book of prophecies has more than a small hand in her fate?
1. The Beginning

_When the light is gone and all is dark_

_Light a pillar to ignite the spark_

_Then all the doom will soon disappear_

_And peace for all with nothing to fear_

_But, soon, not after, darkness will stir_

_And peace will crumble down on Earth_

I stared at the passage of the thick, hardcover book in my hands. It had been a present from Mother when she found out how fascinated I was with the old prophecies. "How long has this been around?" I asked. Grandmother looked up from her book, my violet eyes pierced her blue and she smiled slightly. Grandmother was an elderly woman who looked, acted, and spoke her age. She had pure white hair although it had nothing to do with old age. She was of average height and weight. She carried herself with so much confidence she intimidated everyone she spoke to.

"For all of time," she said. "No one knows what the prophecy means. I wouldn't spend my time on that. It's a riddle that even the smartest of us can't figure out. Put it away and finish your studies."

I fought the urge not to complain. "Yes, Grandmother," I closed the leather-bound book and carefully set it aside. When I get to my room, I thought. After an hour Grandmother said, "It's time for your piano lessons."

"Yes, Grandmother," I got up from my spot at the table and went to the piano. Hmm, which one? "What would you like to hear, Grandmother?"

"Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata." The music soon filled the house. A boy walked in and waited by the door. Grandmother got up to greet him. When the song ended I stood up and approached. "Rukia, this young man has come to ask your hand in marriage." She turned to me. "What is your answer?" He looks a nervous. Guess he heard that I've turned everyone else down. All the other men had been too young, too old, too cold, or lacked hygiene. The latter were extremely disgusting. Father would have liked them. I walked around him, silently judging. Not too young, not too old, he didn't seem cold; at least right now he seemed nervous. He didn't smell or look bad. His hair was combed, his clothes pressed, and he seemed, not confident but something close to it despite his nervousness.

"May I speak with him alone?" Grandmother nodded and disappeared, leaving us alone. "What is your name?"

"Ichigo,"

"Why have you come, Ichigo?" I asked with a hint of amusement. "Surly you know I'm very… picky about this."

"My father has asked me to." I raised my eyebrow. Normally the men, if they could be called that, came up with a lie about wanting my heart when all they really want was my money. Several of them had been acceptable except for the fact that they'd lied.

"Your father," I questioned. "Why would he send his son off to marry when he knows that I'm not interested in being married?" at fifteen, for me, the idea of being married was like being Prometheus: chained to a rock with birds eating your insides.

"You haven't much a choice anymore."

"What gives you the confidence to say that?" he raised his hand and I automatically took a step back. Ichigo scratched his head.

"Your father has given you a deadline, right?" this time he raised an eyebrow.

"While that may be true, I still have a choice before then. Although there is something I would like to know." He nodded at me to go on. "Why me?"

"You seem like the most likely choice. There's only a two-year difference." So he's seventeen huh?

"Very well then, you may go." I said waving him towards the door. "I will have a messenger send you your answer by tomorrow evening." I said and sought my room. When I arrived I surveyed my room to find the best path to take to my bed.

Every aspect of me showed I was a noble. I was pristine and perfect. Although, with everything that's perfect there's always at least one flaw. For me, my room was that flaw. My bed was never made; the floor could barely be seen through all the clutter. Paper, trash, clothing—clean and dirty—were strewn everywhere. I didn't see the point in cleaning if it was just going to get dirty again. I picked over the clutter and hopped onto my bed.

Maybe I should marry him, I thought. He was the first one to speak the truth and he has leverage. Whether he actually said or not isn't the problem, he had implied it. He knows I don't have much of a choice. It's either him or some slob my father will pick out. Choose him, he's the best path, my inner voice said. I sighed and fell back on my bed. I sank onto the softness of my comforter. Sleep, I thought. How long has it been since I last slept in my bed? I asked myself. I should get up, I thought wearily. I pushed myself up and then fell back down. I turned over. I'd take a nap and face the consequences. Who's to say, I might actually get off easy. There was a very slim chance of that happening but then again there were miracles all the time.

I awoke to loud banging on my door. I burrowed deeper under the blanket. From within the tangles of sleep I heard a low voice. One I had not been expecting.

"Rukia, get up now." He said. I quickly sat up and tossed my covers off, scrambled off my bed and hurried over to the door. I tripped and cursed silently as I pulled myself up and made for the door again. As I opened the door I straightened my posture in hopes that he wouldn't look past me. I was in luck if only slightly: he only had eyes for me.

"Good, evening," I said calmly.

"Come." He ordered. I quickly stepped out and shut my door. I trudged off after him. It was going to be an extremely long night.

At breakfast I sent a messenger to Ichigo to accept his proposal. Better than here, I thought silently as I quietly ate my breakfast. The letter had said that he was to come for lunch and stay for dinner. Of course it was his choice to stay for dinner or not. Lunch was not an option.

"Rukia, you need to prepare for lunch. Come to my room after you finish eating."

"Yes, Grandmother," I answered my voice cracking.

"Do not speak until lunch today." She ordered. I nodded and left the table. I sighed. God what I wouldn't do to get out of here. On the way up the stairs I allowed my shoulders to sag just a bit. I was so tired. I heard heavy footsteps coming down and my tiredness disappeared. I turned on heel, jogged down the stairs quietly and went to the back stairs. I wasn't going to get into it him. I walked up the rest of the way and entered Grandmother's room. Maids had already been sent to prepare me for the lunch. I sighed. I couldn't have a break for one minute. They swarmed me like bees jostling and dragging me over the vanity mirror. I sat as they primed, curled, tightened my hair, dress and shoes. Last the make-up was applied. Any other time I could refused make-up but now Grandmother would insist and I wouldn't have choice.

The maids all moved away at once letting me see my reflection. I looked like a china doll. I glanced at the clock and realized that there were still three hours until the lunch. I stood.

"I'm going outside,"

"My lady it would be best if you were to stay inside. Your dress and make-up might be smeared." Momo, my personal maid, who seemed to appear when I need her, said.

"You can come with me." I said softly. "I only want to go outside." She bowed and hustled to get an umbrella. I refrained from rolling my eyes. I was pale, yes, but I didn't burn easily. After she got the umbrella, we made our way down stairs into the living room and out the back door. I sat in the shade of the umbrella and spaced out.

Momo had to shake me several times to pull me out of my trance. She looked slightly amused. "If I may be so bold," she started looking and me for permission. I nodded for her to go on. "What were you thinking about?" I was quiet for a moment then answered.

"I was thinking about the prophecies in Veteres Prophetias."

"What about them bothers you?" she questioned. I smiled. It was uncanny how she always knew what I was thinking. Most people couldn't tell what kind of mood I was in since I was passive in front of others. Only she and Grandmother knew what I was feeling.

"I'm not sure but whatever it is I'll figure it out." Momo fidgeted for a moment then asked: "My lady, when you move to the other mansion is there any way that I could come with you?" she said quietly.

"'Course, I would love for you to come with me. I'll insist on it." She beamed brightly.

"Thank you, my lady." We walked into the house and into the dining room. As soon as we arrived Ichigo came in. He greeted Father first as he was sitting at the head of the table. Ichigo sat down to the right.

"Welcome," Grandmother said. "Please sit, lunch will be served momentarily." Grandmother the ever-present hostess. I tuned out the conversation during lunch. I only paid slight attention when my name was brought up.

"Rukia has been taught to serve her future husband, you, and fulfill his desires." Grandmother was speaking. I was slowly drifting away from the conversation when Father asked me a question.

"Rukia, when would you like to have the wedding?"

"Some time in the summer. July, maybe." He nodded and went back to his conversation with Ichigo. I tuned out the rest of conversation and wondered about the prophecy and Veteres Prophetias again. Grandmother said it has been around since the beginning of the Earth. Did that mean that it wouldn't ever be figured out? Or that only someone descended from the oracle that made the prophecy will understand? Grandmother also said that even the smartest of us haven't understood it. Maybe the prophecy is literal. Maybe it's already happened: the darkness, the light, the peace, the stirring and the unrest. Maybe that's why nobody has thought too much about it.

"My, Lady," Momo said in a harsh whisper. I turned and saw Ichigo standing up; I stood as well. I walked to the other side of the table.

"This way, please." I said and led him to the door. As we walked he asked me many questions.

"What were you thinking about?"

"What do you mean?"

"During lunch, you didn't take part in any of the conversation."

"I never take part in the conversation."

"Why is that?"

"I never have much to say."

"Somehow I don't believe that." I looked at him sideways. "You seem like the type of person to always have an opinion, whether it's welcome or not."

"I have no opinion worth sharing." He turned as I opened the door.

"Your opinion is certainly worth sharing." I gave him a small smile.

"Thank you for your consideration. Off you go." I said. I bowed slightly as he got into his car and drove off.

Later that day while I was in my room reading Mother came to see me.

"Hello," I said cautiously as she picked her way over to me.

"Hello sweetheart." She said sitting down on my bed. "You should really clean your room. It's extremely dirty."

"I will, Mother." She set down and set a binder on my bed. When she opened it I saw wedding designs, dresses, flowers, and an assortment of other wedding details.

"So I think that the flowers…" she said and kept going. She talked about flowers and designs and everything wedding. She spent the rest of the evening in my room going over flowers. I just nodded and agreed that whatever she thought should go was fine.

The next day Mother dragged me from my room to have the maids clean it. Ichigo was invited over to have a say in the wedding arrangements. That was how my days, weeks and months were spent planning for the wedding. I'd wake up, eat, plan, eat, plan some more, eat some more, and plan even more. It became a routine I was accustomed to.

It was the day before the dress rehearsal and then the day after was the real wedding. Things had been going smoothly up until this point. I didn't have to endure 'princess' lessons and I got to read more; Mother had something to do and Father didn't bother me as often.

I was reading when the news came to me from Momo. "My Lady," she said, slightly out of breath. "My Lady," she repeated. "Her Majesty has requested that you visit My Lord Ichigo's home immediately."

"What for?" I questioned.

"I believe that Her Majesty has realized that you and he haven't spent much time together."

"I'd like to keep it that way." I muttered.

"My Lady, I hate to be the one to say this, but you have to produce an heir one way or another. Eventually, I mean." I sighed.

"I know, I know." I got up and walked to the gate. "I'll go inside to pack." I asked.

"My Lady, I already packed for you."

"What you didn't have to, but thanks. You're coming too, right?"

"Yes, My Lady,"

"Walk with me." I linked arm with her as we walked quietly all the way to his car.


	2. The Old World

When we arrived at the house I thought: This isn't a house. And it wasn't. The 'house' was as an old Victorian three story mansion with yawning door and sweeping windows. It sat on a cliff that dropped off with the ocean a hundred feet below. I looked up and saw a widow's walk on the roof. Momo hefted my bag and hers out of the trunk. I walked over and grabbed mine. Why I had so much stuff for a two day trip was beyond me. "My Lady–"

"I can carry my own bag. I'm not completely helpless." I swung it away from Ichigo as he tried to grab it. "I can hold it myself." I said glaring at him. "Lead the Your Majesty. You shouldn't keep a princess waiting." He gave me a slightly amused look and turned towards the door. When he opened it I almost gasped. Mother would kill to have this, I thought. It had everything you could want; beautifully painted walls, the perfect amount of furniture balance between chairs, couches, and end tables. The room was well taken of so nothing had so much as a speck of dust on it. The rest of the house was just as beautiful and well organized.

The room he showed me went above and beyond any standards that had been set in the rest of the mansion. It was as big as a factory. The bed was big. Not big as in California King, more along the lines of King of the Universe. There was a wall of glass that passed as a window and opened at the end. It led to a balcony that overlooked the ocean. The walls were painted a color that seemed to alternate between different shades of gold. The bedding was a deep shade of purple with lighter colored pillows. There was a canopy over the bed and curtains ringing it. I set my stuff down beside it and wandered to the window. "My Lady, if you need me I'll be in here." Momo said indicating a door that connected another room. I nodded and opened the door to the balcony. I stepped out and leaned on the rail. I'd never been to the ocean before. I've seen picture and blankets that portray it but they didn't compare to the real thing. I might have admired it more if I wasn't in a foreign place. _It won't be so foreign soon. _I sighed at the thought. I went back and dug through my suit case for _Veteres Prophetias_. I rummaged and rummaged and couldn't find it. I even went to the point where I dumped out all the contents on the floor. I sat back on my heels. _Where is it?_ I was sure Momo would pack it for me. I stood up and went to the door connecting our rooms. I knocked on the door. It opened within the first knock.

"My Lady?" she said.

"Did you pack_ Veteres Prophetias_?" I asked.

"Of course, My Lady." I flexed my fingers and winced. "Still bruised?" she asked. I nodded.

"It's not there. Maybe it came out in his car. I'll go ask Ichigo if I can search it."

"I'll come with you." Momo said. I knew that tone; there would be no arguing with her. I nodded and we left my room together.

We searched and searched until eventually we admitted we were lost. "How," I started, "can a person live here when it's a complete maze?" Momo sighed and sat down next to me. When we'd first started we'd retraced our steps and gotten to the entrance. Then we got completely lost after that. The corridors doubled back on themselves and the rooms connected to each other so if you weren't careful you'd end up on the opposite side of the mansion, which was exactly what happened to us. We were in a corridor I was sure we'd past before but I was too distracted by my lack of direction to care. "Maybe, we should go back to our rooms." Momo suggested. I stood up.

"Guess you're right. We'll go check ourselves; after I change."

"Wait, that's not—" she started but I had already walked to the nearest staircase. "My Lady I'm not sure that's a good idea. What if you get caught?" I turned at the landing.

"If he tries to do anything, I'll run. Besides, he's much nicer than any guy _I've_ ever met." I turned back around and started walking again. When we reached the landing I actually recognized where we were. I continued walking with a new found sense of direction.

"My Lady, do you know where we are?"

"I do in fact know. Haven't we been here before?" she didn't answer which I took as a yes even if it wasn't. When we reached our rooms I immediately closed the curtains and stripped down to my corset and underpants (pants made of thin cloth). I almost took those off too. They were baggy and went down to my ankles like pants except I have to wear them under my dresses. Momo looked mortified when I told her we were leaving dressed as I was.

"My Lady, what you are wearing or lack thereof is entirely inappropriate. Have you no shame?" Momo lectured. I waved my hand dismissively.

"He'll be my husband in two days anyway. I didn't really have any shame to begin with anyway." I thought for a second. Then waved my hand again and picked up the smaller bag that was packed that housed_ Veteres Prophetias_—and many other things—and turned to the door. "Let's go," after we left again we almost made it to the main corridor when a man walked by and saw us.

"Who might you be?" he asked politely. Momo fell back behind me as we approached. We curtsied (as well as I could dressed as I was).

"I am Rukia Elizabeth Kuchiki. It's a pleasure to meet you sir." He smiled. It was a smile I knew well, but couldn't figure out where from.

"I am Isshin August Kurosaki." Ichigo's last name. "The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Kuchiki." He said. "Might I ask where you are going?"

"We were trying to find Ichigo, My Lord." I said avoiding eye contact.

"He should be on the first floor in the east wing. Is that all?"

"Yes, thank you My Lord." I said and we curtsied again and walked down the remaining stairs. I turned to the east and started walking.

"My Lady do you know where you're going?" Momo asked.

"Yes and no." she sighed but followed. We waked about ten minutes before I started recognizing where we were. I walked quickly and quietly. We reached the end of the hall where it looked like there wasn't a door there, but for some reason I felt like it was. I touched the wall and pushed. It swung open into a circular room. For some reason I got sleepy. Very, very sleepy like I would curl up on the floor and sleep forever.

"My Lady, are you ok?" the voice sounded far away. Who is it? I don't think know her. I stumbled and tried to catch myself on the wall and instead flung myself into the room. "My Lady what's wrong?" she asked in urgency.

"Fine," I slurred. I slid down the wall and onto the floor. "Who are you?"

"My—My lady, it's me Momo." She stammered. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Momo," I paused thinking. "I don't know a Momo." I said laying down on the floor.

"My Lady what's wrong?"

"Who's there?" a voice called. It was more muffled now.

"My Lord, we were looking for you and His Lordship told us you would be around and My Lady led us here and—" then her voice was too muffled to make out the words. Oh well, it's time to sleep anyway.

When I woke up there was an excruciating pain in the base of my skull. I sat up slowly rubbing my head. "What happened?" my mouth felt fuzzy and like my tongue was too big for my mouth. I blinked to clear my vision when I realized I couldn't see. I blinked again and rubbed my eyes. I still couldn't see. _What the hell?_ I got up slowly. I reached around me and hit a wall. I felt along the wall for a light switch. I reached to end of the wall and turned. I went around three walls, couldn't find a switch and gave up. I slid down to the floor and tried—and failed—to think. What's going on? I remember walking into a circular room and then everything else was fuzzy. Why can't I remember anything? Think. Numbness. That's what I can remember. Every part of my body went numb and then I fell asleep. _No,_ I thought struggling to remember, _I didn't fall asleep._ I was lulled to sleep by something. I remember hearing something say sleep, in a sweet voice. A voice so calm and reassuring that I had to listen for a moment. Now that I think about it, the voice wasn't so sweet after all. It was menacing. It commanded me to fall asleep. I shook my head. I was thinking nonsense. I had to get out.

I looked around again and mumbled, "Where's a candle when you need one?" to no one. Then as soon as I said it I felt something drop on my legs. I reached for it and found a match box. I looked—felt, whatever—the box in my hand and wondered how I was going to light it I couldn't see. I opened it carefully and took a match out. I felt along the side for the striking surface on the side of the match box. I struck the match and it flared to life. But just as soon as it came it went and I dropped it. My mind went blank. I might have screamed if I could have found my voice. There were bodies everywhere. Battered and bloodied. They piled on top of each other and crisscrossed in unnatural ways. Then one image from it all made its way to the front of my mind: Ichigo's mangled body. A stray thought wrestled its way to the front of my mind: how did I not trip? I held onto that thought. I needed something to hold onto, whether it was physical or mental. I felt myself get up and walk to where I remembered him being.

Something occurred to me so suddenly I stopped where I was. I couldn't smell anything. My brain tugged at memory from when I was ten. I had been invited to a morgue by one of my cousins. I couldn't refuse because it was a chance to get out of the mansion and away from Father. When we'd gotten there someone had turn the A.C. off so it was room temperature in the morgue. It was then that I got my first whiff of death. It wasn't a pleasant experience. I took an experimental sniff. Nothing. Steeling my courage I took a deep breath. Still nothing. _Maybe I was hallucinating?_ I thought of Tristian. Now is not the time to find out. I shuffled further keeping my foot out tapping experimentally on the ground to make sure nothing was in front of me. When I touched Ichigo I tried—and failed—to stifle my scream. I dropped and shook him. "Ichigo," I whispered. I shook him again. "Ichigo," I said louder. He groaned. I sighed. He was ok. I felt my eyes start to burn and chocked back a sob. I can't cry, I can't cry, now is not the time to cry. He could be seriously injured or worse.

I tried not to think about _or worse_.

Maybe there was a door in here. I didn't check the fourth having given up after tripping over myself. I felt along the walls until my hand hit nothing and then more of what felt like a wall. Ichigo groaned again. I touched the surface until I felt a door knob. I almost squealed. _It is unladylike to make any noise that isn't an actual word._ Grandmother's words rang through my head. My knees buckled and I barely missed hitting the door knob. Where was she, my grandmother? Where am I? These thoughts just occurred to me. Why hadn't I thought to figure it out sooner? It could possibly be that I had a massive headache, hadn't had any light, and when I _did_ have light I saw a massacre that was more than likely a hallucination, and the mangled body of my soon to be husband. While I had a point, I still had to find out where I was. One of my earlier thought fluttered back. _Where was she, my grandmother?_ I almost cried. Although we had never been close—she partially blamed Mother's bad relationship with Father on me (her reasons were still unknown, it's not like I did it on purpose)—but she had always been there. She had been the one solid thing in my life. Mother only came to me when it was in her best interest or something interesting was happening (i.e. my wedding planning). Father was the same way except he was around more often. I might have given anything for him to be as absent as Mother. Thinking of them brought back the fact that I had no idea where I was. It also meant that _they_ had no idea where I was. I wiped my eyes when I realized that I was crying. Now is not the time to snivel and moan about the life I always wanted to leave. I had to get up. I couldn't crouch down and hope this was a dream—although if there was anyone looking out for me, it was. I needed to help Ichigo. He was hurt and in need. I stood up with new resolve.

I grasped the knob again and turned it. It turned ¾ of the way and the stopped. Jammed. First I checked for hinges. I didn't know if it swung in or out. No hinges. I took a step back and slammed into the door. The door swept open and I nearly fell out. I caught myself at the last moment. I looked up then down. Nothing. I still couldn't see anything. I put my foot out hesitantly. I touched the floor. I let out a sigh of relief. I patted my side and realized that I'd left the matches back where I sat. I cursed. I cautiously walked back to where I sat, unsure if I was going the right way. I couldn't see my hand a centimeter from my eyes. I hit a wall and went down covering my nose. I felt my nose. Sore but fine. _Thank you Aunt Rosa._ Thanks to her mandatory first aid class whenever she came to visit (every summer for two weeks) I actually learned something. I felt along the wall and about a foot out. Finally I bumped into it and nearly smacked it away from me grabbing it. I got up and followed the wall to the door. I got one out and turned the box around in my hands. I looked in the direction of my hands but couldn't focus on the exact location. Maybe this is what blind people feel like. Looking but never seeing. Focus. I shook my head clearing my thoughts. I struck the match and peered out into the darkness. I could see something out there. I couldn't quite make out what it. The outline was like a dragon but also like a human. When it stood still it looked human but when it moved it looked more like a dragon. It kept shifting its weight back and forth and then stopping. It repeated this until it noticed the light and turned towards me and I met its eyes; I saw them again. The bodies, bloodied, torn and barely together, but they were walking. Slowly coming towards me. _Come,_ it said. I took a step forward. I pulled back, but kept walking. I have to stop, I thought. Even as I thought that I kept moving.

I felt rather than saw Ichigo walk up behind me. He put his hand over my eyes and I could move again. I turned and nearly singed my fingers. I forgot I was holding the match. I dropped it. I shoved Ichigo back in the room and slammed the door shut. I heard a muffled thud and a groan as he fell to the floor. I slid down with my back against the door. My body went numb. _Ichigo needs help._ I know, I know, I slowly got up and felt as though I'd been replaced by someone else. I grabbed the match box I'd shoved into my waistband (I don't even remember putting them there) struck another match and peered around the room. On the upper part of the wall I saw torches. I went and took one down. I'd never lit one of those before but from what Grandmother had said the kindling had to be dry. I dropped into the kindling and watched the fire grow. I looked around the room and braced myself for the bodies and saw nothing but Ichigo. In the torchlight I could actually see the room. It wasn't large but it wasn't small either. It was probably the size of an average living. There was nothing in it except Ichigo and me. The only way in or out was the door. I walked around the room squinting. I saw more torches and fumbled for the matchbook._ Use the torch, you're wasting matches. You should know this._ Of course I should, because someone who's barely left her mansion should know.

I sighed, arguing with myself was likely to drive me insane. There's only so much of me I could take.

I stood on my toes and tilted the torch until the fire touched the kindle. It slowly lit up. I walked around the room until every other one was. I set the starting one back into it hold. I turned to face the other problem I now faced: Ichigo. I couldn't tell where he was hurt just by looking at him but if he could manage to stand, his legs weren't in critical condition. I dropped down beside him and looked at his torso. It was coated in blood. Breathe, breathe, breathe I chanted. "I can do this." I murmured and unbuttoned his shirt.

When I had unbuttoned his shirt it was better than what I had expected but everything was covered in blood. It was so bad I almost threw up on him. Thankfully I had enough common sense not to throw up considering we would have to smell it. So, once I got over that, I went to work excessing the damage done to him. I looked around and spotted my backpack. Thank God! I rushed over, opened it and nearly cried for joy. Everything was still there. My bottles of water, packages of food, (two things I always carried) two emergency aid kits (I blame Aunt Rosa for making me so cautious) and _Veteres Prophetias _was sitting at the bottom. I was tempted to pull it out but took out the kits instead. My mind went blank. What was I supposed to do?_ Clean!_ Right, of course. What do I clean with? There wasn't any cloth since it was meant for minor injuries like cuts and scrapes. What do I use then? I fingered my pants and nearly laughed at my own stupidity. I took out one of the water bottles and a tore off part of my pants then set to work. I cleaned his abdomen, and the right side of his chest and saw nothing. I wiped the left side above his heart and felt the cloth drop a little. What? I wiped again. Same thing. Hmm? I wiped over his heart. My hand dropped and his hand shot out and grabbed my forearm. I jumped at the contact. His hand gripped my arm with amazing strength. I was impressed—hard to do considering I practically lived in Father's room when he was drunk.

I pried his fingers off me and he grabbed onto to my pants. I took a breath and then another until my heart stopped racing. Okay, okay. Okay. What am I supposed to do now? I racked my medic training info and found it wasn't doing me any good so that basically meant I was screwed. I remember Grandmother saying language like that belonged elsewhere and not in the mansion of a noble. I'd said 'Yes Grandmother,' like I always did and wandered off to my room. I sighed and shifted until my legs were to one side. I was only a little shocked when I felt myself crying. The fear I'd felt earlier came creeping and hit like a ton of brick. My world had always been on the edge. Teetering, waiting until the wind decided to put it out of its misery and make it fall. All it needed was a gentle push, but instead it got a storm. It crashed down shattering into a million pieces. I cried. I couldn't remember the last time I'd cried as hard as I did now. I fell and cried and cried and cried until exhaustion took over and I fell asleep.

When I woke up again it was dark. I sat and rubbed my eyes. Where am I? I shook my head trying to clear the sticky fog of sleep from my brain. I couldn't feel my legs and tried to shake them awake. "Hey," someone said. His voice sounded dry and cracked. I turned. My hand brushed cloth and then I remembered where I was—or where I wasn't—and almost cried again. "Thank you," it came out gravely and Ichigo cleared his throat. "Thank you," he said again in a clearer tone.

"For what?" I asked.

"Cleaning me up and everything."

"Oh," was all I said. "Where are we?" I asked my voice my voice cracking. After a long time in silence he finally answered.

"The Old World." He answered quietly.

"What?"


	3. Prophecy Decoded

"What?" I sat dumdfounded. "What?" I repeated. I still wasn't grasping the concept.

"We are in the Old World." He said slowly. I nodded.

"I heard you I'm not grasping it. I'm gonna chance this question: why?" He took a while to answer. "You,"

"Me? How…? I can't believe this."

"What's not to believe?"

"What do you mean what's not believe? Everything. The fact that I'm not panicking and even knew what to do was amazing in and of itself." I rubbed my temples.

"You are here now. There's nothing we can do."

"Say I believe you just for a moment. Why are we here? I know you said because of me but I don't understand."

"Okay just listen: You are the reason there is peace on Earth in present time." He started. "You are the person who will, eventually, make the prophecy come true. You are the reason we are here now."

"But those were just myths. The prophecies were older than anyone alive they—"

"Aren't just myths." He finished. "The reason nobody has seen it come true is because they've already happened. The prophecies that aren't in that book are rarer than the ones that are. There's only one place you could find them and that's my mansion. Those prophecies predict the people who will fulfil the prophecies in_ Veteres Prophetias_. They tell what will happen and when." He paused to breath and then kept going. "They are also the oldest and most dangerous. They can't be tampered with, it could change the course of history. There was one prophecy that detailed a girl with your features—fire red hair and grass green eyes—that would have the Prophecy of Light come true."

"But that could be anyone." I said weakly. I knew that wasn't true. It was rare to even have red hair.

"There aren't many people with that hair color and if there are, they also don't have that eye color and vice versa."

"I—I'm only a girl, I'm only fifteen, I'm not…" I trailed off having a feeling that I'd had this conversation before. Years, maybe only months ago_._ I tried to remember. The base of my skull exploded in pain and I nearly blacked out.

"Rukia? Rukia, are you alright?" I blinked several times against the pressing darkness. I waved him away.

"I'm fine," I mumbled. I rubbed my head again.

"What happened?" he asked. I got up and walked to one of the walls, careful to keep my hands out.

"I was trying to remember something." I said hitting one of them. I lifted my arms and immediately touched a torch. "I've had this conversation before." I took it down and fished for the matchbook. I touched the kindling not all gone. "I—I don't remember when but I know I've had this conversation before."

I lit the torch. I watched it slowly grow. "I think it happened not too long ago but I can't pin down the exact date." I repeated my earlier stances. I sat down. Enough of this craziness. "So if this is really happening, how do we get out of here?"

"It _is_ happening." He said exasperatedly. "We fulfill the prophecy."

"What prophecy, the ones in my book?" I rolled my eyes. "I still don't believe you

He sighed. "So tell me what did you see when you opened the door?" I stiffened.

"I don't know." I said quietly.

"Mmm hmm." He said skeptically.

I glared at him then noticed he had put his shirt back on. "Hmm,"

"What?" he asked.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I already told you."

"No, I mean what happened to you?" I said pointing to his chest.

"Nothing," he muttered

"I'm not blind. I know what I saw, what I felt. What happened?" he cast his eyes down. I moved over till I was sitting in front of him. He kept avoiding my gaze. "Hey," he lifted his head. His eyes fell on my nose. I poked his forehead forcing him to look at me. "What happened?" I asked again. "If it had something to do with me—"

"No, it had nothing to do with you." He said hurriedly. "I've been like this for a while now." He sighed. "It happened a few years back when I was eleven. I don't remember most of what happened but I was messing round by a pond and I fell in and started drowning, when I woke up I had this hole where my heart should be." He shook his head. "It's hard to believe I'm still alive but…" he trailed off. I took to a kneeling position and sat on my legs.

"Hmm," was what I said.

"What," he said. He was definitely guarded.

"It's just I feel like I've heard something like this before." He raised an eyebrow. I shook my head dismissively. "It's probably nothing. So how do we get out of here?"

"We fulfill the prophecy."

"And how exactly do we do that?" he shrugged. "Wonderful," I muttered.

"You can't expect me to know everything." He said.

"I know, but, I don't know what to do and I want to go home."

"From what Momo said—"

"Momo, where is she?"

"She didn't come with us."

"Wait," I said suspiciously. "What did she say?"

"That you didn't like your home. She wouldn't tell me why though."

"And when did she tell you this?"

"One of the time we—your mom and I—you never participated—were planning the wedding, I asked Momo about you since you weren't volunteering information."

"Uh-huh and what did she say."

"A lot, actually. Like how you were when you were a kid. Apparently you were kinda different." I snorted.

"That's an understatement. I was louder, wilder, more stubborn. A complete pain compared to now. And about having an opinion, I always have something to say but as Grandmother would say: a princess can't speak unless spoken to when talking to men." I rolled my eyes. "I think its complete bull, but I can't go against her. Respect your elders and all that." I rolled my eyes again. "Enough about me. I want to go home—however bad it may be it is still home. How do we go about making this prophecy work?" I asked, purposely changing the subject.

"I need the book." I grabbed my bag and took it out and handed it to him. He looked at my bag suspiciously.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just that you're packed well for someone who didn't know she would be leaving."

"I always have this stuff. My Aunt Rosa always made me have these with me," I motioned to the first aid kits, "and the food and water are for when I get hungry at night. Mid-night snacking is forbidden in the mansion because when I was allowed on occasion I was in the kitchen which for me meant every night. Don't look at me like that, the food they serve is like cereal: I'm hungry after about thirty minutes. Anyway I gained three pounds and Grandmother decided I was ten pounds overweight and dropped mid-night snacking. _Anyway_, can we not talk about me?" he nodded. He went through my bag and got the cover out.

"Why isn't this on?"

"I don't like them, it gets in the way when I'm reading."

"Well, that might explain why the prophecy isn't complete."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, look at it now that the cover's on."

_When the light is gone and all is dark, Light a pillar to ignite the spark_

_Then all the doom will soon disappear_, _And peace for all with nothing to fear_

_But, soon, not after, darkness will stir_, _And peace will crumble down on Earth_

_They will bring it to light, And hammer down the darkness_

_The darkness will become a shield, And the light a sword_

_To gain one you must sacrifice the other, And to sacrifice one you must gain the other_

"How…?"

"It's the cover. It has magic in it so when it's on you see what you're supposed to and not just what is wanted to be seen." I shook my head mystified.

"Okay, so how are we going to do this?"

"First we have to leave this room."

"Uhhh,"

"You aren't afraid are you?" he teased.

"No!" I snapped. "I just don't see the point in going if we don't know where to go."

"How else are we going to know where to go if we don't leave?" I sighed.

"I concede." I hopped up and extended my hand. He grasped it and pulled himself up. "Lord you're heavy."

"I'm sorry for being allowed to gain weight." He said sarcastically. I narrowed my eyes. I 'accidentally' stepped on his foot walking to grab a torch. "Is that a good idea? I mean the last time you walked out…"

"Yeah I know but I'll be careful. I learn from my mistakes." I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder. I took two torches down then blew out the rest of them and then handed them to Ichigo. "For when this one runs out." I explained when he looked confused. He nodded. I walked and pushed the door open.

I looked out into darkness and moved forward slowly. "Which way?" he asked.

"This way," someone said. The voice sounded vaguely familiar. Almost enough to make me remember where from. It was towards the right so I turned right.

"Uhhh this way I guess." I said and we started walking. You know, you'd think that I would be wary of unembodied voices but my inner voice hadn't complained so I took that as a good sign. We walked for what seemed like hours before we saw something.

"Three," Ichigo said. Three hours? Why hasn't the kindling run out? He glanced at the torch as if wondering the same thing. I stopped short squinting. "What?"

"I think I see something." I moved forward more. "Yeah, I definitely see something."

"I don't see anything."

"Follow me," we started walking again. The place was actually farther than it looked from where we had been.

"I see it now. It looks like a village." He said then looked at me. "How could you see that far?" I glanced at him and he jumped.

"What?" I asked.

"Your eyes are glowing."

"Say what?"

"Your pupils are silted too, almost like…" he paused. "Like a cat."

"How…?" he shrugged.

"Things are strange here."

"I was already weird before but now it is worse."

"How do you mean?" I shook my head.

"It is nothing." We walked for a while in silence until we approached the village. I stopped at the edge. "What the…?" I looked at the ground. There was a light ring the color of amber that seemed to be circling the perimeter of the village. Ichigo might have stepped on it if I hadn't stopped him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Dunno," it looks like… hmm. I lowered the torch.

"No! Not yet." She said. Okay so… what now? _Forward dimwit, and blow out that torch, do you want to be seen?_ I blew out the torch.

"I can't see." Ichigo complained.

"I know, but I can. Let's go." He reached towards me and grabbed my bag. I shook him off and grabbed his hand. "When we step across we have to run. I don't know why but we just have to. Got it?" he nodded. We stepped across and ran like hell into the village as a screech sounded somewhere in the village so loud it made my ears ring.

I led us through a maze of different buildings and houses. When I found on close to the border that was empty. We sat down on the floor. I rubbed my ears.

"How long are we going to be in here? I asked.

"Until whatever you heard goes away."

"You mean you didn't hear it?"

"It must have been too high pitched for me to hear." The screeching faded farther and farther away until I could hear it anymore. "Okay, what should we do now?" I asked.

"Well, now that it's gone we should look around to what's here and if there are any people."

"Translation: I should look around because you can't see."

"'Your point is?" I sighed and got up.

"You wanna come?" he shook his head.

"I'd only slow you down."

"Awww, feeling useless?" I asked giving a sarcastic smile. "Welcome to my world."

I left on that happy note to wander and hope not to alarm the thing. Whatever it is. I walked around and actually saw people. They weren't any different from me except they were extremely pale and their eyes glowed like a cats eyes. The irises were three different colors blue, yellow and a hazelish color. The pupils were slit like cat eyes. It was weird at first but then I realized that this is what I looked like and then it was really weird.

There weren't many people at first but then after about ten minutes the streets were flooded with people. None of them looked especially happy but they looked contented with what they had. I kept my eyes down as I made my way back to the house Ichigo was at. When I got back I almost had a heart attack. His eyes were like everyone else. Catlike. His irises were amber. He looked mildly surprised and highly amused at my reaction. "You are the worst…" I muttered walking in. "In case you didn't hear there are people out and about so we might be able to blend in. I'm not so sure about me but we can make it work."

"I think if we don't get caught by that thing we're good." I went through my bag and brought out a bandanna. I tied it back covering the top of my head. Good enough, I thought. We walked out and tried to avoiding looking up but it was really hard. The place was beautiful in a humble kind of way. There were mountains that grew grass even without light that surrounded the village. The houses were made of wooden planks that looked fragile but were sturdy. There was a stream winding its way through the village and branching off in smaller streams. There were bridges leading to the other side in various places. We crossed one of them and walked through the village. The further we walked the less houses we saw and the more land there was. We waked and talked about the village what we were going to do and how we were going to get home.

Most of the conversation ended in us fighting.

"Why can't it be literal, I mean not everything has to cryptic."

"I know not _everything_ has to be cryptic but these are prophecies they're _supposed_ to be that way." He exasperatedly. I'd put up this argument for the last thirty minutes and I could tell he was getting tired of putting up a fight. "Princess!" he said grabbing my shirt.

"What?" I said then saw the knife that was pointed at my eye.

"_Quis enim es tu? Quid hic agis?"_ she spoke in a different language.

"I know this." Ichigo looked at me strangely. "It's… uh… umm… Latin! It's Latin." I cleared my throat. "_Ego Rukia." _I said introducing myself._ "Ut taceam quod haec est Ichigo._" I said motioning to him. She paused for a moment

"Hello, I am Orihime. Your Latin is ah…" she paused grasping for a word, "rusty." She said.

"I know, for some reason I could never get Latin right." She lowered her knife. Ichigo glanced at the knife warily.

"Come, you can explain."


	4. The Hell Dimension

We sat down at her table and she floated into the kitchen. She came back out with food. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I saw it. I grabbed a slice of cake.

"You know, I always wondered how some people have snacks conveniently ready for guests' even if they aren't expecting anyone."

"You just say whatever's on your mind don't you?" Ichigo asked.

"Only with you." I answered sweetly.

"Is he your husband?" she asked speaking slowly annunciating every word.

"Yeah, I suppose you could say that."

"How do you mean?"

"Well he proposed and I said yes since I didn't have a better choice."

"You make me feel so loved, Princess." He said dryly.

"So it was arranged?" Orihime asked.

"Sort of. I needed to be married and get away from home and he needed to be married so his dad would stop harassing him about grandchildren. It was a mutual agreement." More like he blackmailed me, I added silently.

"So you never really knew each other." She shook her head. "That is sad. How do you feel about each other now? How long have you been together?"

"Since March, so about four months. Our wedding is… tomorrow?" Ichigo said. He shook his head, time here is different. "As for how I feel about her. We're friends I guess. Princess never took part in the conversations of wedding planning for that matter, so I don't much about her except for what Momo told me." He shot me a dirty look.

"My apologies for _not_ being such a girl. It's not like my opinion matters to her anyway. Mother would sooner switch places than take my opinion into account. Besides I know nothing about you."

"I don't see how that's a bad thing. You're spoiled and everything. I don't know why you'd want to leave." I was about to snap at him when Orihime cut in.

"My, you two seem to have a rocky relationship." I grumbled about him dying in a hole but said nothing of importance. "Well, why are you here if the wedding is tomorrow?" I glanced at Ichigo. He shook his head. It's funny how we can go from wishing death upon each other to having silent conversations.

"Work," he said. "We don't have jobs at the moment. We were hoping to find some here. We're new here." He said at her questioning gaze. She nodded and got up.

"I have a job for both of you. It is a job for the desperate. Are you are up to it?" she asked. We nodded warily and followed her out into her yard. I was amazed at the fact I wasn't freaked out by everything anymore. Like the fact that it is pitch black and I could see light it was daylight and I could hear so much more. The rush of the stream, the chatter of people, my own heartbeat. It was really strange. "Here," Orihime said as we walked into what looked like a shed but was actually a forge. "I need to make sheets of metal for the people in town but it is so loud I had to move. The two things you have to do are pound the metal and carry it to the wagon and deliver it to the village. Can you do that?" we nodded. How were we going to get home doing this? _Play it out. You don't want her to know you lied._ It can't take that long, can it? I reached for the hammer: three foot long handle and a foot top part (I can't for the life of me remember what it's called). I saw Ichigo's arm over mine and grabbed it. I expected it to be heavy—it was pure metal from what I could tell—but it was extremely light. So light that I almost hit him with it. He ducked fortunately (or unfortunately). He stared and I tried not to look too triumphant but the he smirked and leaned back against the wall.

"You know, I always knew there was something manish about you and I guess I just figured it out."

"Oh my God! You're so… Gah!" I said and swung the hammer again. "Go die!" I screamed. He danced out of the way.

"Nice try, Princess. I guess growing up spoiled has your reflexes shot." He put his hand in his pockets. I glared and turned my back on him.

"So tell me how I am supposed to do this."

"Well the metal is very malleable but it's still hard to bend. It will take some time but it's doable."

"Thank you," she nodded and brought the metal over.

"It is like this." She grabbed the hammer lifted it up and swung it down. The villagers were right: it was really loud. I was surprised she hadn't gone deaf. It flattened somewhat but only where she hit it. "It will take time. I have question." She said looking at us closely. "What happened?"

"These clothes are days old. We had a bad encounter." Ichigo said. She shook her head.

"A lion I assume. They have attacked many. I have some spare clothes. They are from past workers. They might not fit. You are both…" she struggled for a word.

"Scrawny?" I offered.

"Yes you are both… scrawny." She said slowly.

"I think I'm offended." Ichigo said.

"Don't worry, Prince Charming. If it makes you feel any better I think so too." He glared. We walked back into the house and into a room that looked like it hadn't been opened in months. "Here," She said. "This is where you change." When changed separately. He change first do I could make alterations to the clothes.

"You can sew?" he asked. I nodded absently.

"Grandmother said if I knew how to sew I would be one step further to becoming the perfect wife. I really didn't care but if I did it so she would stop harping at me about it. Needless to say I'm nearly an expert." I stood up and left while he changed back. I went in and started sewing. It didn't take long, maybe ten minutes but it took concentration which I was currently lacking. My mind kept wandering to different places: my room, my family, my home but the one thing it kept coming back to was Ichigo's heart. It couldn't simply be gone. It had to be somewhere unless it was burned or something of the like.

"Are you done yet?" he said poking my head.

"What? Yeah, I'm done." I handed him the clothes and he disappeared in to the bathroom. After I did the alterations on my own clothes and sewed everything up I went back to the forge. I hadn't changed anything except the size but they looked different. The pants were heavy material like jeans and the shirts were basically normal t-shirts.

I took hold of the hammer. "This way I have some metal…" she was saying to Ichigo. I lifted it and swung it down. Ichigo moved chunks of metal in and out of the forge while pounded mercilessly on the metal that was placed in front of me. It was actually easier than it seemed. After a while I took the shirt off. It got in the way. I poured my frustration and sadness of the last hour into my work flattening piece after piece. I only stopped when I noticed Ichigo watching.

"What?" I asked slightly out of breath.

"Nothing, just," he paused. "Strange I guess. I never thought you could do work." He seemed genuinely amazed.

"When I was a kid I did a lot of work and played outside often. I haven't in a while. Grandmother said I would get sunburn and made me carry an umbrella whenever I went out. It didn't serve its purpose, going outside I mean. It was a way to get out my anger and not be a noble for a few hours."

"I see you've found a new way of letting out anger." He said trying for a smile.

"Yeah I guess." He walked towards me with a worried look.

"You're crying." He said. He put his hand on my shoulder and I jerked away.

"Sorry," I said wiping my tears. "I'm not one for touching."

"Right, sorry May told me I should have remembered."

"I—" the room shook and the horrible screeching noise filled the air again. I covered my ears even if it did no good. Something came in to the room. It was that thing from earlier. _Come_ it had said. That was what I heard before I woke up here. That thing is the reason we were here. It screamed again. I picked up the hammer. _Calm down this isn't going to do anything. It won't help!_ I charged and swung to hammer. I had been expecting it to go through it but the darkness was so dense I actually hit it. I swung again smashing it into a table. It tried and failed to get up. I hit it again until it was completely flat. I swung again and found that it changed into a Guan Dao type weapon. It was too late to pull up so I added more force. It cut and the part the came off dissipated. It tried to wiggle away but I stabbed it with the Guan Dao and it wiggled a little then went still._ They will bring it to light, And hammer down the darkness_

I turned as saw Ichigo struck with awe. I smiled. "Who says the prophecy can't be literal?" I pulled the blade out and put a clamp on one side. "Hmmm, I know. Let's see," I said. Twenty minutes later after hammering and grudging help from Ichigo the shield was finished. "I think you should keep it."

"You made it."

"But you have nothing. So, here, take it."

"You're not going to steal that are you?" he teased.

"No! I'm not a thief. She gave it to me." He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah I know that weird but it's a gift I can't exactly say no and I do want this. It makes me feel not entirely useless."

"I suppose," he said taking the shield. I stuffed the shirt Orihime gave me into my bag and slung it over my shoulder. Just as he took it, it imploded and then—I was getting into a habit of doing this—I blacked out.

When I woke up (again) I was so hot I was glad I didn't have my shirt but cursing that I had the heavy duty pants on. I was trying to take them off when I heard a cough. I turned.

"I'm still here." Ichigo said.

"And I still don't care." I replied. I shimmed out of then and rooted though my bag.

"Have you no shame?" he asked.

"I have none whatsoever." I took out the pants making a big show of putting them on. "So," I said clapping my hands together. "Where are we now?" I was nervous and scared but I wasn't going to let it show. I didn't need him teasing me and making it worse.

"Well," he said looking around. "I never thought I'd be here while I'm alive. There's only one place we can be: Hell."

"Awesome, I've always wanted to come here. To see Father when he's dead, that is."

"What about your father?" he said absently.

"Oh, nothing important. So do you know where in Hell we are?" I asked.

"Well as you can see, we are in the Fire Fourth of Hell. Right by the border actually." He pointed to our right. The border was a deep purple and beyond that was land that was icy blue. I used the butt of the hammer—it changed back—to draw a square and the divide it into fourths.

"Tell me what's what."

"We are here—" he said pointing to the lower left hand square. I drew a fire symbol. "Here—" he said pointing to the lower right hand square. "Is the Water Fourth." I drew a wave. "This—" he pointed to the upper right hand square. "Is the Air Fourth." I drew a cloud. "And the last one is the Earth Fourth." He erased a small circle in the middle. "This is where the Seven Deadly Sins are."

"Uh do we have to, you know, go through this Fourth because I think I lost like ten pounds already."

"Yeah our best bet is to walk on the border but believe me it's bigger than it seems." He got up from his stooping position. "We better start walking."

The way to the border was so boring and hot I started doing random things like skipping trotting hand stands—although they didn't last long with the ground being so hot. Ichigo and I started playing twenty questions.

"So what's your full name?"

"Ichigo August Kurosaki."

"Isn't your dad's middle name? August?"

"Yeah that's I have it too. What's yours?"

"Rukia Elixabeth—" I tripped and caught myself. "Victoria Kelsey Marlowe Kuchiki IIII."

"That is a long name." I shrugged.

"What's your dad like?"

"I'll answer that if you do the same."

"Sure, why not."

"He's eccentric in the comfort of our home but can put on a show for other nobles. He harasses me daily for grandchildren but you knew that. Actually how do you know that?"

"I met in the hall while May and I were—" I tripped again and again caught myself. "—looking for you. He was very polite but he was slightly jittery and kept looking at my stomach like he expected to see something." He sighed.

"I apologized on his behalf." I tripped again.

"It's fine. So do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah two sister. They're both strange. Amy's an optimist and Andi's a pessimist." I spun, tripped tried to catch myself and brought Ichigo down with me. He helped me up. "Why do you keep tripping?"

"It is dark." Yes, Hell was dark. Not like before when I could see nothing at all but like a room when the light are turned off. I could make out shapes. I could tell the colors but only because of my enhanced vision.

"Yeah a baby could tell me that."

"I mean the shield makes it darker so it's like I have normal vision now and I'm clumsy enough as it is."

"Would you like me to hold your hand, Princess?" he asked his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Would you like to eat metal, Prince Charming?" I stopped short. I could hear explosions from far away. "What in the name…?" I muttered.

"Clashing elements." He said. "Fire and water clash and collide at random so there are explosions everywhere. Hey, it's either this or you lose ten more pounds you can't afford." He said at my baffled look.

"Fine but if we get hurt it'll be your fault."

"I'll keep that in mind Princess." I linked arms with him.

"If you die, I'm coming with you because I'm not marrying any guy my dad sets me up with and I'll have no way to get home. Besides," I said looking at him sideways. "I can't very well send you off alone, right?"

He rolled his eyes. "Of course," we started walking again but soon it got too loud to talk. We stopped right in front of the border and the noise was deafening. We took a step across and the chaos subsided and the temperature cooled. "What the…?" he stepped back over the purple line. Nothing happened. He pulled me over the line and the battles started again. I stepped back in and they subsided. He smiled. "I always knew you were special but to think you were this special." He shook his head.

"Be grateful," I chided. "At least we don't have to dodge disasters."

"True enough." He shrugged.

"I read somewhere that each element means something. Is that true?"

"Yeah fire is fear, passion and anger, water is calmness, earth is bonds, and air is freedom. But only has an effect people whose awareness is sensitive so I guess you would feel them."

"I didn't feel anything while we were in the Fire Fourth."

"Maybe you were blocking them. You know what they say: practice makes perfect." He said this jokingly and I forced a laugh. He was right of course practice makes perfect and I'd had plenty of practice controlling my fear. "How long do you think it'll take to get there?"

"I don't know. Hell is huge so it could take hours, days or weeks."

"Never thought I'd say this this but: I wish I was at home—wait never mind I'd rather be here. Nothing is worse than there."

"Why do you hate home so much? I mean you'd rather be in Hell instead of home. Why is that?"

"It's complicated." _No, not really. Your dad's a douche. That's all there is to it_. I sighed. I swung the hammer up and behind me. Hmmm. "Hold this." I said handing Ichigo the hammer. He almost fell over.

"It's not heavy." I said holding back laughter. He glared.

"To you, no, but for me like eight hundred pounds."

"Fine just leave it then." I patted my sides then searched my bag.

"What are you looking for?"

"My matches," I pulled them out and opened it. Empty. "What? Oh that's right. I used the last one to make the shield.

"You used fire to make a shield of darkness."

"It was being difficult and fire emits light, so yeah."

"_To gain one you must sacrifice the other._ That's part of the prophecy. So you sacrificed light to gain darkness." He sighed. "You win again." I smirked.

"So not every prophecy has to be cryptic. It's literal once again." I pulled surgical thread out of my bag. I took cut some of it off and picked up the hammer. "I like that it's big but it's inconvenient." I walked over to the lined and stabbed the handle into the ground. "I don't need fire per se but heat." I looped the tread through the needle and picked the hammer out of the ground. I poked the handle bottom with the needle and it went through. I pulled it through until it was even on both side. I took the needle off and tied it at the end.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Watch." I stood up and threw it towards the Water Fourth. It flew until it was out of sight.

"Exactly how are you going to get that back?" he looked amused now.

"Give it a moment." I opened my palm and with a blur of motion a small necklace landed in my outstretched hand. Ichigo shook his head.

"You're amazing, you know that?"

"Yeah I know."

"Let me, it's the least I can do." I rolled my eyes. I held up my hair as he put it on. "Your roots are white."

"Already? I must be stressed."

"What do you mean 'Already'?" he asked.

"My family has a history of being prematurely grey. It skipped Mother, although I don't know how since she has a stick up her—"

"Ooookay. I thought you got along with her."

"Sort of. We don't really talk unless it's in her best interest."

"She seemed nice."

"They all seem nice, but you don't live with them." I snapped.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"No, I'm sorry. I just don't like talking about my family."

"Then I'll take about mine. I remember this one time…" he said and he was off talking about his dad and sisters. He actually had a lot to say. He was telling me about when his dad set his hair on fire when until something flew at me. I had no idea what it was until it was on the ground in front of us. "It's a cat. Made of fire, no it's on fire." He glanced at me. "Why'd you hit it?"

"It was an accident. I saw something flying at me then. What did you expect me to do?" He rolled his eyes and picked it up.

"How'd you get the hammer off anyway?"

"Um, it sort of appeared in my hand. It's back on the necklace now." The cat jumped startling us both.

"Mew," it said.

"Are you harmless?" I wondered aloud. The cat nodded. "What the?" I wonder, hmm. "Do you have a name?" it jumped out of Ichigo's arms and ran in a straight line, a diagonal line, straight again and then in a circle. "'No? Hmm, how about I give you one?" it nodded.

"Why are you talking to a cat?" Ichigo asked.

"Because I'm strange. Leave me alone." I picked him up. "Boy?" he nodded. I turned to Ichigo. "What do you think his name should be?" He shrugged.

"Apollo?"

"Yeah I like that name. Apollo. Can we take you?" He nodded again. I smiled. "Alright let's go." I started humming a song.

"What is that?" Ichigo asked.

"What's what?"

"That song."

"Night Veil. Mother used to sing it to me when I was little." He gave me a weird look. "We don't get along now but we used to." All of used to, I added silently. I went back to humming. Suddenly Apollo caught fire and hissed to the right and I swung the hammer. I made contact with something and it went flying.

"I swear your Roman." He muttered.

"Actually, I'm descended from the Amazons."

"That's worse." He walked over to whatever it was that I hit. He stooped down with Apollo next to him mewing up a storm. "I think it's a snake."

"You think it's a _what_?" I shrieked.

"Afraid of snakes now are we?"

"They're just… gross." I said weakly. "You can deal with it." I held up the hammer in defense and realized the hammer part of it turned into a flat square. Great for smacking snakes.

"Wait, you want to _what_?"

"Keep it. You got the cat so why can't I have the snake?"

"You aren't afraid of cats."

"So you admit you're afraid."

"Is that really important?"

"Of course. Now I have something over you."

"Go die in a hole."

"If only Princess." He picked up the snake and it wrapped around his waist.

"Does it have a name?"

"_She_ does not."

"None of the animals have names?"

"You can't base that off the two animals you've met and brutalized."

"It was self-defense."

"Uh-huh.

"You're making me feel bad." I paused. "I got it!" I exclaimed.

"What and lower your voice I'm not deaf."

"Her name: Europa."

"What?"

"It means snake goddess."

"You're a strange person, you know that right."

"So you keep telling me." He shook his head and we kept walking. I didn't want to talk because the matter of family might come up again and I didn't want to talk about them. The only noise was my singing and the occasional hiss or mew from Europa and Apollo. The next time I swung I saved our lives. I wouldn't have noticed if Apollo caught fire and Europa hadn't hiss to my right. I swung. I made contact and it flew. It got up and barreled… right past me. Ichigo might have died if he didn't have the shield. It billowed out darkness and blinded everyone. When it disappeared he was beside me.

"That's a demon."

"A what?"

"A demon. I think it's Bucon."

"What's a Bucon?"

"Not a what, a who." It got up and started coming towards us. "If I only I could remember what he does." Ichigo muttered. I turned and swung at Ichigo. "Hey!"

"I hate you." I growled. I swung at him again and he narrowly dodged. "All men are the same. You never take us into consideration. All you ever do is hurt me." I lunged again.

"Princess—"

"My—" each word was punctuated with a swing, "name—" swing, "is—" swipe, "not—" jab, "Princess!"

"Calm down! I didn't hurt you!"

"It doesn't matter. He promised he would never hurt me! He promised to keep me safe but Father broke his promise. He hurt every day. For seven years I was his punching bag!" I screamed and swing at him again.

"I'm sorry!" he said dancing back.

"You're not sorry!" I dodged behind him and hit the base of his skull. He went down and I turned on Bucon. "You're a man aren't you?" I lunged forward and attacked. His voice floated into my mind.

Your hatred goes far beyond comprehension. His voice was as smooth as honey and washed over me until I could only see red.

"Shut the hell up!" the hammer turned into a blade and sliced down over his head. It hit him and he sliced in half. The blade stuck in the ground from the momentum. I ripped it from the ground then it shrunk down and latched on to my necklace. My anger dissipated. I fell to the ground panting. Pain exploded in the base of my skull it's was like being hit with… with my hammer. I blacked out.

When I woke up—I really need to stop this blacking out business—I realized I was moving. I opened my eyes and noticed I was upside down. He was carrying me. Like a princess. Lord. I lifted my head. He jumped. "I see you're awake."

"Yeah, can you put me down?"

"Will you be able to walk?"

"Maybe," he set me down carefully. I stumbled but stood up. "Sorry,"

"About what?"

"About hitting you."

"Oh, well I think I deserved it."

"How?"

"Well, I figured it out when you started yelling the only think I could think to do was reassure you which only made it worse. He has the power to incite anger between sexes."

"Oh well, it had a worse effect on me."

"Do—"

"No." I said immediately. "I'm fine." I sighed. "I can deal with it myself." _At least he didn't push it_. We waked in silence then I started singing again. "**Here all is dark there be no flare. All is sweet but the air is stale. I weep and cry but no one is there. They're all asleep as I climb the stairs. In the veil of night I cry out. To those who'll listen. Hear me sing, my sorrows way. They fear against my words, with no more haunting. I am free to wander I am free to wonder. In the veil of night I slip away towards the light of day**." I started humming again.

"Mew." Apollo said. I looked up.

"What the…" Ichigo said.

"It's a village."

"In Hell?" he asked.

"Well, I suppose although it looks more like a city. I thought you were supposed to be the expert."

"Yeah but, I've never heard of villages—let alone cities—in Hell."

"Off we go then."

"Wait you're just gonna march right in? What if they're hostile?"

"And what if I don't care? I smashed darkness into a shield and cut Bucon in half. I can handle it."

"And if they have snakes?" he asked.

"That's why I have you. C'mon, Prince Charming."

"Am I like your information source and body guard?"

"Information source, yes. Body guard, only when it involves snakes." He rolled his eyes.


	5. The City in Smoke

We started walking again and Apollo kept rubbing my legs and purring as if that would make me pick him up. When that didn't work he started complaining. "Fine," I mumbled. I picked him up as we approached closer. The skyline or what I could see of it was familiar. The memory was hazy like it was far in my past. As we got closer and closer I noticed little details that stuck out to me. A small bridge that was the entrance, the moat surrounding the perimeter, the mixture of different languages, the smell of baking bread sweet bread and the music. It gave me a feeling of peace. I saw the thin line of amber around the rim of the moat. "I know this place."

"What do you mean?"

"I've been here before."

"But, this place is way before either of us were born." He pointed out.

"I know but…" I shook my head. "You're right." We walked further until we were at the bridge. Guards were posted at either side.

"Quién es usted?" he asked. Which language, which language? Spanish!

"Somos extranjeros. Soy Rukia y esto es Tristán." I spoke slowly and carefully afraid to mess up.

"Foreign? Where are you from?" thank God they spoke English. I looked at Ichigo.

"Earth," they were immediately put on guard.

"Why have you come?" they pointed their weapons at us.

"We were brought here by this. When she made it into a shield it imploded and brought us here." He held up his shield and they cringed away from. It started billowing darkness. We made eye contact and he threw it up. I brought the hammer down and it ranged with a loud _BONG_! Ichigo picked it up again and slung it over his shoulder. They leveled their swords at our chests.

"Renuncia a sus armas. Ven con nosotros." Ichigo didn't have to know Spanish to understand. Apollo and Europa kept quiet but were on edge. He extended the shield but once it left his hand it started billowing darkness again. They shoved it back into his hands. They looked at me but my hammer had turned back into a charm. I felt bad and gave him the necklace. He dropped it quickly like it was made of lava. He looked at me. The other guard tried to pick it up but it didn't leave the ground. Maybe…

"I give you permission to pick it up as long as I know where it is." I muttered to myself. He tried again and he picked it up.

"I'll keep this. Come with us." They had us walk in front so they could watch us. The walk through the city was so familiar I found myself naming the places to Ichigo as we walked by.

"That's the main sweet bread place but most people buy from any although this is the biggest. And that's the biggest shoe store it mass produces all shoes and gives them to the smaller stores. And that's…" I started on and on like a tour guide. Apollo had jumped and raced ahead.

"How does a foreigner know so much?" the first guard asked.

"So you really have been here." Ichigo said obviously amazed.

"Yeah, when I was younger. Way younger." I continued pointing out buildings and homes until we stopped in front of a small shop. Although it was small I sense of foreboding. "In," the second guard commanded. When we entered I immediately wished we were back in the Fire Fourth. We walked around a corner and into the room at the end of the hall. When the door opened I almost passed out (lots of practice stopped me).

He looked exactly like Father, down to the streak of grey hair on his left side. I moved slightly behind Ichigo. It isn't him, stop hiding. He stood and walked around the table. "I'm Akihiro, Mayor." He extended his hand. Ichigo shook it the Akihiro turned his gaze towards me. I tried not to shrink back. I extended my hand he shook it gently.

"I'm Ichigo and this is Rukia." I avoided his gaze.

"Sir, they say they're from Earth."

"Is that so?" He looked at us with new interest then looked out the window. "Why are you here?" he asked. Again Ichigo explained what happened. "Interesting, sit." Ichigo sat I stood behind him. "Where are you headed?" Ichigo pointed at the center of a map he had placed in front of us. "That's madness. The Seven Deadly Sins have driven men and women alike mad. It's better to just stay here."

"We have to get home, if not…" he trailed off. He didn't need to finish: if not, we'd be stuck here. He shook his head. "We need to go. We just happened upon the city. We don't mean any harm."

"While that may be true, I still can't allow it. It's for your own safety."

"Whether it's safe for us or not we still need to go."

"Beg pardon, young lady?"

"We—we need to leave. We don't have time to stay here." I finished weakly. I shrank back under his intense stare. A familiar 'mew' caught my attention. I turned. Apollo sat at the door he padded over and jumper in my arms. "Where have you been?" I asked quietly.

"Where did you get that?" he asked.

"I found him."

"Where?"

"I—I—I" _stop stuttering and answer_, she chided gently for once. I hated when I started stuttering. It only happened when I was extremely scared. I hadn't been this scared when I realized I couldn't get home or when we landed in Hell.

"The Fire Fourth." Ichigo answered. Thank the Lord he's here. "We ran into a demon. He helped us."

"A demon? Which one?"

"Bucon," I answered. He narrowed his eyes.

"What happened?"

"I attacked him and then the demon himself."

"You attacked a demon?"

"Yes, it said something about my hatred going beyond comprehension." Apollo mewed.

"Interesting," he muttered, he looked at the window. "What did you attack him with? He's easily twice your weight."

"Just because he's twice doesn't mean I couldn't take bare handed but you're right I had a hammer." He narrowed his eyes. I almost shrank back again. I'd gotten over the initial shock of him looking exactly like Father, I gained more confidence. That and the fact I had Ichigo, Apollo and—hopefully—Europa.

"Where is you weapon?" I motioned to Guard Number One.

"He has it." He pulled out my necklace.

"This is all she gave me." He set it down on the table.

"What is this?"

"A necklace," he stood up and I took a step back. _Stand your ground_. I stood up straight. I held my hand out. "Give it here." He tossed it and he glanced at the window again. When he looked back it was full sized.

"Where did that come from?"

"You gave it to me not five seconds ago."

"How, then?" Apollo jumped onto Ichigo's lap and curled up. That's exactly what I felt like doing: curling up in a ball and hoping he would save me. But I knew I couldn't do that. He wasn't letting us leave so we had to find a way out. I wasn't so good with plans so I was hoping that Ichigo was thinking of something. On the other hand I was good at stalling. Years of trying to confuse and keep Father a bay have finally paid off.

I remembered he asked me something and shrugged at his question. "It just happens. I don't know how."

"Where did you get it from?" I shrugged again. "How do you not know?"

"Because I don't know. I never caught the name. Besides, I doubt you even know where it is." I said waving my hand dismissively.

"No, no, he might know." Ichigo said. I turned.

"You think so? I mean it's pretty far. I don't think he's ever left. Have you, Akihiro?" I asked. He almost growled.

"Where is this place?" he ground out. The guards behind us shifted nervously. Maybe they'd never seen him this angry. Or maybe they had and didn't want to again. Either way if whatever Ichigo was planning didn't work we were screwed.

"Up. Much farther than you've traveled I'm sure." Ichigo said. He looked out the window again. There was a hiss and they jumped. Europa. She was so quiet I almost forgot she was here. All eyes were on her but he didn't make another sound. Akihiro looked out the window again. What is he looking for? _Use your brain. What was here before you came?_ Oh that's right. The elements weren't clashing anymore. Must be worrying him. That might be his weakness. "Maybe we could leave you come with us. You could get something of your own." I almost rolled my eyes.

"I may be ignorant to your ways but I'm not stupid. If I'm to get a weapon I want that one." He said pointing at me.

"You want my hammer? Hmm, will we be able to leave without you hassling us anymore?" I asked. He nodded. "I give you permission to pick it up as long as I'm in the city." I murmured and gave it to him. He waved us off.

"You may go." He said. We walked out with the guards trailing loosely behind us.

"I hope you have a plan to get that back." Ichigo whispered.

"I threw it to the Water Fourth and got it back didn't I?" he conceded. We walked quickly through the city and I noticed an increase in the guard population.

"Is it me or did Akihiro sic his personal guard on us?"

"I'm continuously amazed by my ability to piss people off."

"Join the club." As we walked faster the more guards there were. "On three?" he asked.

"Why wait?" we broke out into a run, hauling towards the gate. It came into view and I saw them trying to close it. Ichigo took out the shield and the darkness aimed at them. They were enveloped and they disappeared into the inky darkness. "I didn't know you could do that."

"I didn't either." He said grinning like a fool. We crossed over the bridge and halted to a stop.

"See that line? It's flammable."

"How do you know?"

"Not sure but I know this for a fact. Now as to how were going to get the fire…"

"That's the question." Your hammer, channel it. Okay how do I do that? I brought out one of the torched I'd stuffed in my bag. I took out some of the kindling and set it on the line. Ichigo had turned his attention to distracting the guards. "Hurry with whatever you're doing. I can't hold this forever."

"I know, I know." I muttered. I brought down the handle on the kindling and it felt like I was back in the Fire Fourth. Channel it she said. Alright. I focused the kindling. I remembered what it looked like when it lit. Slowly building until it was stable. The kindling lit up and the amber circle ignited. Ichigo almost collapsed and the darkness receded back to the shield. "C'mon Prince Charming we have to leave." He leaned heavily on me as we walked—running wasn't an option—as fast as we could. When he recovered we started running again and I was aware of being watched. At first when I couldn't pin down the location I realized that we were being watched from every direction. We skirted around the city to the other side and kept running. We ran until we were exhausted and the city was a smudge in the distance. I was about to put the fire out—I was pretty sure I could do it even from this far—but I realized that it was keeping those things away. I sat down on the ground and steadied my breathing and longer to calm my racing heart and watched the sky above them fill with smoke.

"Are you okay?" he asked and I knew he wasn't just asking about my physical wellbeing.

"I'll survive. I was just shocked." He glanced at me and sighed. He tried to stand but fell—much to my shock—on me. "Get off, you're heavy." I groaned.

"I can't move." He mumbled. I rolled him off me and sat up.

"Guess using the shield like that took more out of you than you thought."

"Guess so." He slurred sleepily. He was asleep in a matter of minutes. I sighed. I stayed alert of our surroundings but let my mind wander: Apollo stalked around us in a tight circle and Europa slithered loosely around us too. I thought back to the room we had arrived. We hadn't looked back. What was it? Did we need it or did disappear. I sighed at own thoughts. It's amazing how easily I accepted everything that's going on. Any normal person—I'm not saying I'm normal, far from it really—would have been freaked out immensely, or had a break down, or refused to leave the room, or something except accept what happened and go on fulfilling a prophecy she didn't know had anything to do with her.

I stood and started pacing. I'd picked up the habit when Grandmother said I couldn't pace: it was unladylike to fidget. At first I couldn't keep it but after doing for so long it naturally came to me.

I let my mind wander and it went from the room to Ichigo to my family to Ichigo to the lack of food I'd eaten and the back to Ichigo. My eyes flitted over to him. A hole where his heart should be. He said he by a stream or something he fell in and drown when he woke up he didn't have a heart. So what happened? If he was eleven I was nine. I thought back. Mostly I got images if Father but I worked through the murkiness and struggled to remember. A jolt of pain shot through the base of my skull. Work through the pain, try to remember. I ground my teeth in effort but the pain kept at it. It would start to subside but then it'd surge back with a wave of mare pain. It suddenly stopped and I remembered them all. They flashed through my head in a rapid succession. I woke up (when did I go to sleep?) to battle. It was the oddest thing really. I was half asleep when I started attacking. I swung haphazardly but still managed to hit them without hurting myself. Ichigo leaned on the shield that had somehow gotten a handle. I rubbed my eyes and stretched. "Were you asleep?" he asked.

"Partially," I yawned. I adjusted my corset. "What was that?"

"You mean you were attacking and you had no idea what it was."

"Charming, I wouldn't have known what it was if I had been awake."

"True but still." I sat down again. My head was throbbing. Work through the pain, I scoffed. The reward had been worth it but the consequences were killer. I rubbed my temples. My stomach growled. "Food would be nice." He said laughing.

"How long has it been since we last ate? Since Abilia right?"

"Yeah, that was…" he glanced at his watch. His eyes widened. "A full day ago."

"Say what?"

"Time is different here. I guess time on Earth passes quicker than here." I dug through my bag and pulled out a two sandwiches and two bottles of water. "Uh, are those safe?" I sniffed the sandwiches and then took a bite.

"They're fine. There's nothing on here that needs to be refrigerated."

"How long—never mind I don't want to know."

"I wise man once said: don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to."

"Truer words have never been spoken." We ate and then I got up, fell and nearly twisted my ankle. "What happened while I was asleep?" I shook my head.

"Nothing. My head ache came back, that's it." He looked at me suspiciously. "Seriously I'm fine." I rolled my ankle and put my weight on it. Not broken or sprained. "I can walk." I chugged half my water and put it back in my bag. Ichigo handed me his and I did the same. "We should start walking, which way?" although the city was behind us we could head in the wrong direction. He pulled out a map.

"I stole this when we left. I steal from the kitchen. I have to make sure they don't notice." I rolled my eyes. He looked but couldn't seem to understand what it said. I looked at the map.

"Well," I stooped under his arm and from his perspective. "we're coming from that way." I pointed at the southern end of the map. We turned and faced the opposite direction we came. "So we go this way." I looked up at him. "How could you not read this?"

"It's not that I couldn't read it, it's just that I was trying to read the print." I looked again.

"It's Japanese."

"How—"

"I'm a language expert. Unlike you, I had to learn all of them."

"Can you tell me what it says?" I read aloud.

"'Hajime wa kantandesu - keizoku wa kon'nandearu. 'Beginning is easy - Continuing is hard. 'Anata ga anata no tabi no 95-pāsento ga kanryō shitara, anata dake no chūtohanpa ga aru.' When you have completed 95 percent of your journey, you are only halfway there.'"

"They're warnings. From what I know, they don't leave."

"Yeah, people come to them. Trading is big there. There are some things they don't have."

"How are people gonna come to them with the fire?"

"It won't hurt them."

"How do you know?"

"Just a feeling." I lifted his arms and stepped forward. "We should start moving again." Apollo mewed in agreement. I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder. Europa slithered up Ichigo's leg and settled at his waist. I shuddered. "That is creepy."

He rolled his eyes. "Get over it." I hummed quietly to myself going over my memories one at a time memorizing them again and again. Apparently my silence worried him more than clumsiness because he asked: "Are you alright?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You're just quiet. I thought you might have been angry or upset."

"Oh. It's nothing like that. I'm just… thinking."

"About…?"

"The city. I'm trying to remember why I know it." _Liar_. Shut up.

"Have you gotten anything?"

"A little. I know I was there before I started living in Arkandri, that's about it." Apollo jumped down and ran ahead out of sight and Europa slithered after. It was an odd sight but I shrugged it off. They were free to move around by themselves. We walked a little further and I got the sudden urge to run ahead and I couldn't understand why. I took off running at top speed. Ichigo was a blur beside me. I halted to a stop at the top of the hill (we were going up?) and almost fell. "I thought hell was flat."

"Most parts, not all." I looked at area that lay ahead of us.

"So," I said rocking back on my heels. "This is it. The Seven Deadly Sins."

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I'm so happy I got reviews. Encouragement is still encouragement. Please review. Any critique is welcome. I'm so sorry I didn't do this before. Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, sadly. If I did a certain preppy human wouldn't be here and Ichiruki would cannon. Please keep reading.


	6. Sven Deadly Sins

This is something I've been meaning to do. Copy right. This story is all my own doing. If for reasons unknown it resembles another book, manga, etc. I apologize profusely. Also the next chapter is going to be super short. Another thing, if anyone is wondering why I update so quickly, it's because i had already written these prior to having this account. Any questions I will answer. If there are any. Anyway, please review. (Gasp!) I forgot to mention: Kiaen is a girl. This is the only gender bender character. Enjoy!

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"We have to go through all of them to get to the middle."

"But it's circular."

"More like a spiral."

"How so?"

"Would you do the honors?" he asked. I drew a spiral in the dirt (?). "There's only one entrance and it's here. If you try to enter anywhere else you'll become so prideful you will start to believe you can out do yourself. Pride is where it starts. It's cut into sections. Lust is at the very end but it's very challenging." I looked at the make shift map. Pride, gluttony, sloth, greed envy, anger, lust. I sighed.

"Let's go. I wanna go home." Apollo and Europa ran (and slithered) back to us. "Guess they're as afraid as we are."

"I'm not afraid, you are."

"You'll be afraid of yourself in there. I don't think lust will have much of an effect on me but anger will." I sighed again and we started walking. We got to the entrance and the door was a deep purple. The color of pride. As we opened the door and stepped onto the path I didn't feel any different. I squinted slightly trying to adjust my eyes to the new light. As we walked farther on I started to think about home again. About my family. Father, Grandmother, and Mother. I started to think, maybe I could stand up to Father. Maybe I could say: no I will not go with you. No, I will not let you touch me. No, you do not own me. I thought that if I could stand up to Father I could stand up to Grandmother and Mother. No, Grandmother I _want_ to go outside, no Grandmother it's not my fault Mother and Father have a bad relationship. Mother you have to choose. Be with me or don't. You can't waltz into my life whenever you want. Stay or don't stay. I started to believe that if I could do those things, I could do anything but then doubt and self-hatred started creeping in with her bittersweet voice. All around me scenes came to life. Me facing Father telling him no. Me facing Grandmother and telling her no. Me facing Mother telling her to choose. Me facing so many of my other problems with confidence. Then they dissolve in a black shadow.

You can't stand up to Father, he will take you if he wants, he will touch you if he wants. He owns you. He always has and always will. Grandmother is right. You could have done all those things and more when Father first came. I—I didn't know…Didn't know. You were eight when he first came you knew better. You could have said know 'no' in the beginning. No is a two letter word that has more meaning than is defined. It could have saved you. One word could have changed the course of your life. You could have been happy. .you could have been different. Everything could have been different.

No, it wouldn't have. He would have found a way. Whether he sweet talked me or used force somehow, someway he would have gotten what he wanted. I tripped over my feet and fell. Apollo gave a startled "Mew!" and jumped before I hit the ground. It registered (five minutes later) that I was on the ground and after I got up for the pain to register. I looked ahead and saw the glimmer of light pink. I also saw Ichigo stopped walking and was stKiang next to me unmoving. Trapped in our own head. That's what pride does to you.

I got up and shook him. No reaction. I shoved him, he stumbled, caught himself and stood still again. I took a step back, raise my hand and slapped him. The sound resonated and he blinked. Then slowly he lifted his hand to his face. "Why'd you do that?" he spoke slowly. He shook his head. "Why'd you do that?" he asked again.

"You were trapped in your own head. Terrible place to be isn't it?" his face turned red.

"Definitely."

"The fast we walk the better." I looked around. "Where're Apollo and Europa?"

"I think they went ahead."

"I wouldn't blame them." We walked quicker almost running towards the light pink door. Ichigo flung it open and we stepped inside, slamming the door shut behind us. Immediately we were assaulted with a variety of smells. "What is that smell?" I sniffed the air. So many foods were around us. "What's that?"

"Dunno, wanna try it?"

"Of course. How often do I get to try this kinda stuff?" we sat down and took a bite. "Oh my God, thish ish sho good." I said stuffing my mouth. There was so many types of food on the table that we stayed for hours and hours. We kept moving further and further down the table and soon enough we were at the end. When we reached the end we turned and started pigging out on what we hadn't already eaten. We (Ichigo, really) only realized what we were doing when I started crying because there was no more food left on the table (I know it's pathetic, but you've never been here before). I cried so much that my throat went soar and I kept at it. It was when darkness enveloped me that I snapped out of it. When it was gone I was sitting at a night blue door. It made me sleepy.

I stood and opened the door. There were beds everywhere. Big and small. Old and new. Soft and hard. I stood and stumbled to the nearest bed with Ichigo beside me. "Thank you," I murmured and collapsed on the bed. We slept and slept and slept. As always I didn't take into account that sleeping meant dreaming and my dreams were never just that: dreams. They were nightmares. Memories from when I was younger and from now. My childhood haunted me with beautiful, fun filled memories, while my preteen and teenage years reminded me of what was yet to come tomorrow the day after and the day after. They were always filled with pleas. _Father please, I'm only ten. Please, I'm sorry. What did I do? I never did anything. Mother is your wife not me! Leave me alone!_

I need to wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up! My eyes flew open and almost immediately closed again. Stay awake, stay awake. I struggled to get up and rolled out of the bed. I hit the floor with a _THUNK_ and almost woke up completely. I shook Ichigo and started calling his name. "Get up! For God's sake wake up!" I started to panic. "Wake up already!" I screamed. He snorted and rolled over. "Dammit to hell!" I shouted. I climbed back on the bed and shoved him off. He hit the ground with the same _THUNK_, but he just rolled over. I looked around for another door. At the far end—father than it should've been—was a yellowish gold door. How was I supposed to drag him all the way over there? _Stop whining and get it over with_, my ever optimistic inner voice said. I swear if I ever got into an argument with myself I'd lose. I dragged him until my arms were tired which—sadly—didn't take long. I took at least twenty—I'm not even exaggerating—breaks and finally made it to the door. I pushed it—odd door compared to the rest—open and dragged myself and Ichigo across. He instantly woke up.

"What the…?"

"You're welcome." I said.

"What?"

"I just got us out of Sloth."

"Thanks, but I got us out Gluttony. I didn't hear a thanks."

"Before we went to sleep I said thank you."

"I didn't hear."

"You were prob'ly already asleep. I'm not saying it again."

"Stingy much?" I waved my hand dismissively and sighed.

"I would say I'm tired but after that experience, I don't wanna sleep for a long, long time."

"Hear, hear." We walked and I started to see things. The things I've always wanted. A good father, mother, grandmother. To be able to go outside. To be able to have friends. To be able to choose for myself. I could have them. I can have them. Anything I wanted I could have. There was nothing to stop me. I didn't _want_ them I _needed_ them. Everything I couldn't have as a child I was mine for the taking. I had them here with nothing in my way. _You're in your head again. Get out!_ a small voice said. I ignored it. Everything was mine. Nothing could take it from me. Another voice snuck in and startled me with her loud, bittersweet voice. You can't have this, she said. You've never had this what makes you think you can have it now? Everything you can't have is exactly what you want. Count your blessings.

What blessings?

Be grateful he was kinder than some. Be grateful he made you strong. Be grateful he didn't leave you broken, begging for mercy. What you want is exactly what thousands of people can't have. Get out already! She yelled. That's when I realized I was doubt. Sneaking up on myself speaking bittersweet words. How pathetic can I get?

Your doubt led you back to yourself. That is why you will make it.

I'll make it huh? So far I've done a good job of falling prey to the Sins.

No one is invincible. Everyone will fall prey to its temptations. You only have to be strong enough to fight it.

I'm not strong. Doubt is all I have. It's always slowed me down.

This time it is your strong suit and you said it yourself: he made you strong. Be safe I can go no farther.

Thank you, Lady Hemera. I shook my head. Being trapped in your head makes you realize things you hadn't known about yourself. I look around we'd stopped right in front of the door. We would have stood there forever if I hadn't started doubting again. I sighed. Lady Hemera holds too much faith in me. I turned and kneed Ichigo (where is not on a need to know basis). He doubled over and glared at me.

"The hell was that for?"

"You were in your head again."

"Again? I suck." He shook his head. "Thanks. Wait, how do you snap out of it before me?"

"Doubt," I opened the slightly-darker-than-grass-green door. I took a step in and was instantly surrounded by a hoard of people. Some I recognized, some I didn't. Their voices mashed together yelling and screaming unfairness. You've always had everything! Anything you want you got! We want it some. We want it! They crowded me forcing me down. "Leave me alone!" I screamed. Another, higher voice chimed in, drowning out the rest.

"You have him. What else could you want? He was my everything, I gave him everything, but he chose you. You don't deserve him. I do! I deserve him! I deserve to be cherished! You're nothing but a broken wanna be noble who's never had to work for a single thing in her life. You're nothing compared to me." Kaien stood in front of me.

"I never meant—"

"You never _meant_ anything. You never _meant_ to steal him from me. You never _meant_ for him to lose his heart. You never _meant_ to kill me. You never _meant_ to destroy my family. I should be here, not you. You should to be dead, not me. I should be here with him!" she screamed. "You should never have gotten over. You shouldn't have given yourself an out.

"I never wanted to forget."

"Liar! You always hated me. You never cared!"

"I never though what I did would kill you. I didn't know he would lose his heart."

"Princess! Princess!" he shook me hard. "Princess." I blinked several times.

"Son of a…" I grumbled.

"So what were you seeing?" he asked.

"Clearly, I'm horrible person who shouldn't be here." I muttered.

"What?" he said he said obviously shocked.

"Nothing. It's nothing you should worry about. Let's leave." I said as we moved towards the dark red door. Ichigo kept stealing worried glances at me, which made me pissed off because I kept thinking about what Kaien said.

"Hey," he said reaching for my shoulder but then pulled back. "You shouldn't go in there angry. It's bad enough in there as it is."

"Yeah I know."

"Wait," he grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. I jerked away. "Are you—?"

"No, it's not you. I just…" I sighed and rubbed my temples. "I just realized something. C'mon, let's _leave_." I motioned towards the door and kept walking.

"Ale—" I opened the door and a wave of heat stopped him short. I suddenly got super pissed. My hammer appeared in my hand. I twirled it around in my hands. _He's only toying with you_. I know, I know. I gritted my teeth. Ichigo grabbed my hair. I panicked and swung. He dodged easily. He glared like I'd personally set out to ruin his life—of course he was right. Anger filled me finally boiling over. I was so angry at myself. As pathetic as it sounds, yeah I was angry at myself. I was angry for not being strong for ruining everything I'd ever gotten, for anyone whoever cared about me. His grip tightened.

"Let go." I said weakly. He tossed (when did I lose so much weight?) me across the room. I landed on my feet and my leg gave in. I stood up and limped towards the hot pink door. He grabbed my hair again.

"Your hair is like hers. Kaien's I mean." My heart stopped. "She never did like you. I can understand why. You're nothing like a noble."

"Shut up!" I ground out. "Bucon come out coward. You can't pit me against him again!"

Maybe not you, but him. I sighed.

"Obviously you don't know him that well. He may be susceptible to the Sins because he doesn't doubt himself but that's why he'll snap out of it."

"Rukia, what's…?"

"Bucon's here. You know that's kinda what you'd expect."

"What…do you know what?"

"You were saying something about Kaien's hair, whoever she is. You also said she never liked me." I turned on him. "Do you know something about my past?" _Of course he does. You remembered_.

"I—I don't know anything. You remember everything from your childhood right?" I thought back to before I remembered. I didn't remember most of my childhood. I thought I'd blocked it because I didn't want to remember. Now I realized that I couldn't remember.

"No, no I don't. You know what happened don't you?"

"No I didn't know you before—"

"You're lying."

"I'm not lying."

"I know when you're lying. Your hands are shaking and you stuttered. So," I said stepping towards him. "What do you know about my past?"

"We should get going." He said turning towards the door. I grabbed his shirt.

"We aren't done. What do you know?" he turned.

"We have to leave."

"I want to know."

"Later." I sighed.

"Fine." I walked and opened the door. I was bathed in a sweet smelling perfume. The smell was dizzying. I stumbled forward. Beds. So many beds. Why are there beds? I wonder if Father would like these beds. Why am I thinking of him? "Ichigo, what'sh going on?" Ichigo's nice. I wonder if he likes me. Kaien didn't like me. I know why. She thinks I stole Ichigo from her. Maybe she's right. He's touching me. Like Father did. Hmm. I don't like that. "Shtop." He kept at it. "Stop." I said louder.

"I'm shorry. I won't … I can't hu—hurt you." He leaned heavily on me. My head started spinning. "Why can't you trusht me?"

"I ca—can't trusht anyone. I—I can't." he moved and my vision went blurry. It took me a moment (my mind was working really slowly) to realized he picked me up and tossed me (why the hell was I so light?) on one of the beds. He landed beside and I bounced I started laughing. I giggled, something I hadn't done since I was a kid. I flipped onto my back. Why was that so funny? I started getting sleepy. Then I started crying. Why was I all over? I turned onto my side towards him. So close. I'm hot. Why am I so hot? I closed my eyes.

Lust is a powerful thing. Make the best of it. After I heard that—I am really, really pathetic—I blacked out (once again).

When I woke up (I was really getting tired of this) I was practically numb from my waist down, my throat was sore and I was being smothered by something heavy. And Lord my head. It was pounding like a base drum. I groaned. I shifted to one side. "Get off." I moaned. A deep voice above (on top?) me groaned. What the…? "Ichigo?" I whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Get off me." My voice was cracking. He flipped over and I could finally breathe normally. Okay, what happened?

What_ in the _hell_ do you think just happened?_

So nice of you to soften the blow.

_Deal with it._

I tapped his shoulder, I shoved him and even slapped him he didn't move.

Lust filled dreams. It will take everything to get him up.

Wonderful. I shifted (moving normally wasn't really an option) towards the side of the bed. My head pounded woefully begging for a rest. I slid my legs off and stood, my legs gave in. My lower body hurt. It hurt much more than when Father took me to his room. I crawled over to my clothes. My under ware and corset would be fine. I slipped into them and struggled zipping the corset. I stood leaning on the edge heavily I shuffled over to the side Ichigo was on. I shook him again. It'll take everything to wake him up huh? I would have dragged him off the bed but the fact that he wasn't wearing anything, stopped me—yeah I'm a wimp, sue me. I took my hammer channeled fire. He wasn't burned. It didn't really make a difference except I was hotter than before. Hmm, it will take everything, meaning?

_Better than his dreams, halfwit._

How am I supposed to do that? Think, think, think. I am not using lust. Everyone has a weakness. What's his?

_What's everybody's?_

Everybody's weakness. I sighed. I'm never gonna—wait a second. How stupid am I? I put the hammer back on my necklace. I flipped him over and hopped on the bed with all the grace of a water buffalo. I sat on his legs and hauled his upper body into a sitting position. Why am I so short? I scooted down until I was on his knees.

I have to say, smothering is one of my strong suits because a minute later he woke up. Granted he was gasping for air but that was beside the point. "What's your problem?" he gasped. I sighed.

"Nothing. Everything. It doesn't matter. Get up and get dressed." I slid off the bed and fell again.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Look around and take a guess."

"What ha—happened to you?"

"You happened!" I exclaimed. I could already imagine his face. "Get up already. Now is not the time to be embarrassed." I said crawling over to my pants.

"Can't you stand?" he said. I could hear the laughter in his voice. I threw one of the pillows at him.

"No, and I have you to thank." I started crawling to my pants again.

"Where are my clothes?"

"Why are you asking me?

"You're who took them off." I stopped putting my pants on.

"I did?"

"Yeah, I can't really remember what happened but I know that much." I stood with difficulty.

"Um, I found your shirt and your pants." I tossed them over. Where are his under ware? I hunted around the room and eventually found them. "They're scorched." I said holding the up. "It looks like…" my face reddened. He snatched them from me.

"Tanks for scorching them." He grumbled.

"Give 'em here." He looked at me suspiciously. He'd put his shirt on but he was still sitting on the bed. Thank God. "I can fix it." He looked at me suspiciously but gave them to me. I put my hand (_once again_. Shut up!) On it and brought out the scorch mark. It's hard to explain how I did it.

"I'm not even gonna ask but thanks." I turned and looked for the door. The door I saw was stripped with all the colors and it was a sliding door. "Hey, is the door supposed to be this color?"

"I think it's supposed to be white." I sighed. "You sigh a lot."

"I have a lot to sigh about. Let's go."

"Are you fit for walking? I could carry you Princess." He teased.

"Go screw yourself Charming." He snickered.

"You've become move vulgar."

"No," I said stepping through. "I've become more like myself." I looked around. "It's kinda like a city." A deep voice said. What?

"You're voice is—" another girly voice said. Looked beside me and where Ichigo should have been was a short petite brunette. "Why—" He/she looked up at me. "You're a guy."

"Okay, but why?" I asked. "This is so weird."

"Definitely. What's with the gender change?

"I thought you knew about this."

"I do but I've never heard of this part."

"It doesn't matter. Let's keep going."

"Are you okay with this?"

"Not in the least but as I keep saying: I want to go home."

"I want to go home. I want to go home. You keep whining that but all you've done is ride on his coat tails." A voice said. It came from everywhere and echoed around us. It sounded like a girl but also a guy. Genderless. "You're never going to get anywhere. You wouldn't have survived if not for him. Am I right?"

"Who are you?" Ichigo called.

"Me?" it asked. "I am Lust. Both male," it appeared in the form of a young man hovering in the air and bowed. "And female." It stood in front of us as a young women and curtseyed. "I know what you lust for." She said disappearing. "You lust for each other. Embarrassed? You shouldn't be. It's only natural. I mean she _does_ look a little like Kaien. She was your first love. Don't you agree Rukia?"

"She doesn't know who Kaien is."

"Really? And I assumed after all that pain she remembered. Was I wrong?" Ichigo looked at me.

"What's she talking about?" I didn't answer. "Princess, what's going on?

"I—I don't know."

"Can't ever squeeze out a lie. My, my. To think the great noble Rukia Elixabeth Victoria Kelsey Marlowe Kuchiki IIII, would lie to her future husband." Ichigo gave me a sharp look. "Your nothing like you should be. Remember in Envy? What Kaien said? What she said was right. Although," she said appearing in front of me. "It's not like you have the courage to admit it."

"Don't you think I know that?" I ground out. "Everything she said was true. There's nothing I can do about it now."

"How can you go on living with an escape? You sealed your memories so you wouldn't have to remember. That truly is pathetic. Oh, so you've changed back. Anger does that."

"I'm not angry." I sat down.

"Princess, why did you lie to me?" I didn't answer. "Princess, answer me!"

"I didn't tell you because you would blame me."

"Blame you for what?"

"For your heart being gone, for Kaien being dead, for screwing up your entire childhood."

"My heart being gone was an accident. So was Kaien's death." I shook my head.

"You weren't there. You weren't awake. What you remember isn't the whole truth. You remember messing around by a pond and falling in right? What really happened is that I took your heart."

"What?" he exclaimed.

"I—I hadn't meant to!" I said quickly. "Back then I knew who I was and what kind of powers I had. I was only trying to help. I hadn't realized what would happen." I went quiet. "We have to leave. We don't have.

"We don't have time she says." Lust mocked. "You have all the time in the world sweet heart." He said (if he kept changing genders, I was likely to smack him/her). "Seven worlds actually." He said. Three girls and three guys appeared beside him. Ichigo turned back to me.

"Tell me what happened." He said (he changed back).

"We were playing by the pond…"

"_Kaien c'mon. Kia's already here." I turned and saw Ichigo waving behind him._

"_Ichigo, I'm tired can't she come up here?"_

"_No. We have to go to the pond. She said she had cool to show us." He ran down the hill barely stopping himself from tripping._

"_Wait up!" Kaien squealed. She sat down and laid back catching her breath. She started to roll. She started squealing again. "Ichigo, watch out!" he looked behind him and jumped as she rolled under him. I got up and stood in front of her. I took a deep breath. I can do this. I lifted my hands to my mouth and blew out air. As it went over my hands it changed into a strong but gentle wind and slowed her descent. She stopped in front of me. Her honey blond hair had tufts of grass and leaves. Her amber eyes had trouble focusing. _

"_Are you alright?" I said laughing. Her face turned red (well something close, her skin was the color of caramel)._

"_D—don't laugh at me." She said getting up. She stumbled for a bit but steadied herself. Ichigo smacked her head._

"_That's what you get for rolling down the hill." Kaien rubbed the back of her head._

"_It wasn't on purpose." Ichigo turned his attention towards me._

"_So, what did you have to show us?" I stood up._

"_Okay, watch this. I took a step towards the pond. I put my foot out to test the water. I stepped forward and stood on the water. I kept walking until I was at the center of the pond. I turned and saw them both gawking. "Isn't it cool?"_

"_That's amazing. How did you do it?"_

"_I made the water beneath my feet dense enough to be solid and hold my weight."_

"_What do you mean hold your weight? You barely weigh anything."_

"_Shut up! It's not my fault they don't feed me enough!"_

"_Leave her alone." Kaien said._

"_You're only sticking up for her because your parents don't feed you enough either."_

"_Like it matters. Friends stand up for each other right?" she said smiling. "Can you take someone out there with you?"_

"_I dunno. I never tried before. Wanna test it?"_

"_Of course!" she said exclaimed. I walked back to shore. I took her hand. She tested the water and took a slow step. Her foot sank a little but she stood. "This is so cool. Go out farther."_

"_I don't know if that's a good idea."_

"_C'mon, I know you can do it."_

"_Okay, only a little farther." We walked a little while out. "This is far enough."_

"_Why can't we go a little—?"_

"_If I drop you I don't want you to drown."_

"_Why would you drop me? I trust you."_

"_I know but still let's go back."_

"_But—"_

"_I'm running out of energy."_

"_O—Okay." We started walking back but it was sapping my strength. "Kia I'm going under." I lifted her up and put myself down. "Kia…"_

"_I'm f—fine. I'll survive if I go under. I keep you afloat."_

"_I'll be fine. I can swim now."_

"_I don't care." I went under for moment but came back. "Ichigo come get her."_

"_I can take care of myself."_

"_I know you can but you've just learned to swim."_

"_I can take care of myself!" she yelled and pushed off._

"_Kaien!" Ichigo called. I heard a splash as he dived in. I went under. I came to a stop at the bottom. "Kia! Kia!" he called._

"_Alex! Alex!" don't call me that. How many times…do I…have to tell…you? My vision faded. I saw Ichigo above me. Why was he in the water? Get out. Get out. _

"_Get out!" I screamed the bubbles came up in a torrent and covered him._

"_Ichigo!" Kaien shouted. She was coming too. Why are they here? I said I'd be fine. Leave already. Leave! My hand shot forwards and hot water bathed them both pushing towards the surface. I swam up. I gasped for air and swam to shore._

"_Guys, I said I'd be fine…" I turned towards where they'd washed to shore. "Kaien! Ichigo!" Ichigo was out cold but there was steam coming from his chest. Kaien skin was darker than it should be. "Oh no. I—I…" I flipped Kaien over and check all her pulse points. Nothing. I checked again. Still nothing. "You can't die." I said. My vision went blurry with my tears. "You can't die. I need you. I need you to stay with me." I turned to Ichigo. I checked his neck. Still beating. So why am I still worried? I cleared the smoke and gasped at what I saw. Where his heart should be was a whole clear through to the other side. "No, no, no, no, no, no. I—I didn't mean to." I wailed unfairness until my throat was sore and still I kept at it. After the thought find help flittered through my mind a few times I decided to act on it. I picked him up and dragged him up the hill. "I'm sorry, Kaien." I dragged him up the hill towards the mansion. "August! August! Augu—" I leaned over coughing. I leaned Ichigo over my shoulders. "August!"_

"_Kia! What happened?"_

"_I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it." I repeated._

"_What do you mean?"_

"_His heart is gone but he's still alive. I don't know how but I didn't mean it."_

"_Kia calm down." He took Ichigo from me. "Explain what happened."_

"_We were by the pond and I showed I could stand on water and Kaien wanted to come too—Kaien she's hurt too she—"_

"_Please, I know her situation is serious but pleas continue explaining."_

"_Okay." I took a deep breath. "When she came out with me we walked out a little and I told her had to go because I was losing energy. When we started sinking I told Ichigo to come get if we went under but Kaien said she could take care of herself."_

"_But she's only started swimming." I nodded._

"_That's why I told Ichigo to come get her if I went under and she pushed away from me and Ichigo got her and pulled her to shore and he came back for me and I—I got mad because I told him I'd be fine but he came in anyway so when I said 'get out' bubble surrounded and I couldn't see him. Then Kaien came in and I got angry and then I lifted my hands and hot water shot out of then pushing them ashore and when I got there myself Ichigo was like that and Kaien was burned. I checked all her pulse points but I didn't feel anything. I checked again but it was still the same. I didn't mean it. I swear I didn't mean it."_

"_Kia, calm down. I know it was an accident. There's nothing we can do for them. If Ichigo wakes, then all the better but Kaien cannot be saved."_

"_But what if I took her place. You can do that right?"_

"_Kia—"_

"_But you can do that? We can switch places."_

"_Kia I won't—"_

"_It's my fault she's dead. I could—"_

"_I said no."_

"_How am I… how am I? I'm begging you, please, let me switch places." _

"_I can't do that. Kia, if your parents—"_

"_If Kaien's parent's find out it'll be the same reaction. Why won't you let me?" He held his hand up. He put his forefinger to my forehead but not touching. Something blue, electricity I think, shot out of his finger. Fell back, then black out._

He was silent for a while before he spoke. "Why didn't you tell me?" he said quietly

"I told you already: I didn't want you to blame me for it. I know it was my fault but I didn't want another person telling me that." He stood up.

"We should go." I stood up. I almost said something but decided against it. I looked around. We were alone. Where did they go? "They left. When no one around has not a single one of them they leave." No pride, no gluttony, no sloth, no greed, no envy, no anger, no lust. What then? I know he isn't happy. Nothing is a possibility. I stifled the urge to sigh.


	7. Back Again (Epilogue)

This is the end. Sort of. I've got to write what happened to Momo right? Please tell if you have ideas. It'll be a while before I update again because I have yet to write it. This is just an epilogue. I only realized how short this part was when I separated it from the rest of the story. Please review if you have the time. Thanks for reading.

* * *

I looked around and saw a door slightly brighter than the rest. I walked towards it and stopped in front of the door. "Okay, back to Earth." I opened the door and this time I saw everything that happened. When we got sucked in it felt like I didn't have a body, like I was completely weightless and then I was completely crushed. A second later it was over. I dropped down coughing. "Dear God I'm never doing that again." I muttered.

"I wouldn't speak so soon." Ichigo said. I stood and looked around.

"Why here?"

"Back where we started." I felt around on the floor by our feet. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for a match. I think I'll be able to light it." I brushed something and picked it up. I felt it. Paper. I stuffed it in my waist band. I felt around more and finally found one. It lit as soon as I touched it. I took a torch from my bag (it mysteriously appeared along with Apollo and Europa, they were keeping quiet) and lit it. I out it in an empty holder. I unfolded the piece of paper and read aloud. "'Congratulations on finishing that task, but now is not the time to bask. In Momo you will find the answer, the queen shall be the enhancer.'" I stared at it. Another message.

Leave and you shall know what it means.

I went to the door and noticed there was light shining from under the door. When I opened it I saw a familiar face. I walked further out and squinted against the light. "My Lady is that you?" she ran forward and hugged me. She held me at arm's length. She smiled brightly.

"Momo?" I asked. She nodded vigorously.

"I didn't think you'd be here but the Goddess Hemera showed me the way."

"Ichigo said you didn't come with us." I said numbly.

"I did, but now is not the time because Darkness is after us." I looked behind her and saw the Darkness. I nodded.

"I got this. Do what you need to do I can take care of this." I pulled out my staff. The next hour was a blur of the elements and darkness. When it all cooled down I noticed it looked like night time.

"My Lady, I need your help." I walked over to her. She was looking up.

"What is it?"

"I need your flames. It'll create the sun thus day and night." I looked at Ichigo.

"What happened to your shield?"

"The Darkness took it back." I turned back to Momo.

"So, how am I supposed do this?"

"I'm not completely sure but I know that your flames are important."

It's dangerous. Will you complete it?

Of course, wouldn't have it any other way. I listened to her for a moment. Is possible that I won't survive? She was quiet for a while and that was my answer. Wonderful. I marched up and stood next to Momo. "Do you know what you have to do?" she nodded. "Alright," I said. "Let's get this over with." I thought about the fire I lit. I thought about watching it spark and grow. Momo squeaked. I opened my eyes and looked at my body. I was on fire, burning bright against impending darkness. I kept at. Momo started speaking.

"My Lady I need you to focus on making it bigger. It has to be as big as you can make it. Then I'll launch it into the sky. Got it?" I nodded. Make it bigger. It grew and grew and grew until it enveloped everyone. I chanted: breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. The bigger I made it more I forgot to breathe. I couldn't see what was going on but I could hear Momo yelling. About what was lost to me. Suddenly the fire was above us soaring further and further into the air. I saw it go up and then I fell down gasping. I sat down then laid back and watched as it disappeared. For a brief moment I panicked then I saw it on the horizon, slowly climbing its way up into the sky. Ichigo walked over to me.

"Can you stand?"

"Maybe." He helped up I wobbled and fell on him. "Sorry," he picked me up and carried me to the room and it was the first time I actually looked at it. It was the oddest thing because behind that room—it was just by itself—was a mansion that look familiar but I couldn't place it. It looked like it was a combination of mine and Ichigo's mansions. Half of it looked mine and the other half looked like his. I'd seen this particular mansion not just because I've seen mine and his. We went back into the room and he set me against a wall. Momo followed us in. "So," I said. "Would you mind telling us what happened to you once you got here?" she smiled.

"It's actually a pretty long story. Do you really want to hear it?"

"Do I really want go to sleep?" she rolled her eyes.

"Alright." She took a deep breath and started to speak. "When My Lord Ichigo came into the room…"

2


End file.
